Health problems have plagued Carlo von Tiedemann since he was a child. Now the NDR moderator has once again had worrying days. The doctors needed two attempts to insert a pacemaker.
The popular moderator of the Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), Carlo von Tiedemann, endured a true surgical odyssey. He now revealed that to the “Bild” newspaper. In Tiedemann, who has been suffering from a heart disease called amyloidosis since 2021, a pacemaker was used in a four-hour operation – “the last chance for the heart”, as the moderator describes the decision.
His doctor had previously diagnosed “ventricular fibrillation and a very irregular heartbeat” in the 79-year-old. However, the first operation had to be stopped in the middle of the operation because the risk was too great, von Tiedemann continues: “During the operation, my pump became increasingly slow and almost stopped. That’s why the doctors stopped the operation immediately.” Only 24 hours later was the pacemaker successfully implanted in a “four-hour operation”.
A week later he was allowed to leave the clinic, meanwhile his heart is beating “absolutely in sync”, according to von Tiedemann. The whole thing did not leave the moderator, who has been working for NDR since 1971, as he reveals: “I’m on the dam, but my whole body and my arms are still full of hematomas after the operation.”
In terms of health, the 79-year-old has had to cope with a number of setbacks in life. As a young man, he suffered from polio. Later on two brain tumors and a long-standing alcohol, cocaine and gambling addiction. Despite the medical file and his almost 80 years, he still does not think about the end of his career, he tells the “Bild” newspaper. On the contrary, Tiedemann is already happily planning his milestone birthday, which is due on October 20 of this year. Then he will celebrate with 300 guests in the notorious Hamburg cult bar “Zur Ritze”. “My life goes on!”
The moderator had already demonstrated his positive attitude in 2020 when the corona virus broke out. “I remain an unshakable optimist,” von Tiedemann said on Radio Bremen. He is also a very religious person and is certain: “The one up there will not give up on us.”
