North Longford man relishing chance to continue Operation Transformation journey

Fifty-year-old Thomas Hynes appeared on television screens last Wednesday evening following his selection as one of five leaders on the popular flagship show.

Thomas, who suffered a heart attack five years ago while attending a family barbecue, said the experience was one which still lives with him to this day.

“I was convinced I was going to die,” he said.

“I remember being quite calm but inside I was really melting and that I was never going to see my son, my wife, my daughter and my brothers (again).”

The amiable businessman also spoke of how Covid forced him to reinvent himself in a professional sense after seeing his dry cleaning business succumb to the pandemic's economic after effects.

Thomas said the personal trauma brought about by that setback took its own psychological toll on him and his family.

“I locked myself in the room for three days and I laid on the couch for three days.”

His proud wife, Eileen, who told of her own delight in witnessing Thomas' “resilience”, saw the Granard man turn his hand to initiating his own wood fired pizza business.

“We opened up of a Friday evening and we sold 150 pizzas in three hours,” Thomas recalled.

In the 12 months following his heart scare, Thomas altered his lifestyle, something which saw him shed over a stone.

However, whatever momentum Thomas may have made ultimately, by his own admssion, proved short-lived.

“I sort of found myself going back into the same patterns I had pre heart attack,” he said.

During last week's first episode, Thomas was told of the targets the programme's panel of experts had earmarked for him.

Dr Sumi Dunne said she was keen to reduce Thomas' blood cholestrol levels while fitness guru Karl Henry said his focus would be on seeing the north Longford man address his current 65-year-old metabolic age demographic.

It was a rallying cry which was certainly not lost on the local businessman.

“That (metabolic age reveal) was a bit of a shock but I am so determined to do this because I was the guy sitting on the couch going 'I am 46, I am not going to get a heart attack, but I did and I was lucky to survive it.”

To see how Thomas gets on this week, tune into tonight's (Wednesday) edition of Operation Transformation at 9:35pm.