“I was in disbelief when the doctor told me I’d had a heart attack”

“In June 2023, I found myself alone in a friend’s house in the Lake District, searching online for ‘female heart attack symptoms’.

When you see heart attacks on television, they clutch their chest, they stagger and they’re in agony. I now know the reality is that for some people – men as well as women – that’s not the case.

I was in the Lake District to support my husband, Keith (pictured below), and some friends on a sponsored walk.

Why was I not walking with them? I was often breathless and could not keep up. With hindsight, I know breathlessness can be a sign of heart problems, but at the time I thought of myself as healthy.

While they set off on the walk, I drove to my friend’s house to check on a parcel delivery.

The advice had actually been to call 999, but I did not want to make a fuss over nothing.

I had woken up that morning with a strange feeling in the middle of my chest. Even though I’m trained as a first responder it did not occur to me that it was my heart.

As I walked up my friend’s short but steep drive, I was struggling to catch my breath. I had to sit down when I got inside and was not even able to get myself a drink of water.

On instinct, and as a matter of good luck, I googled ‘female heart attack symptoms’. What I saw led me to call 111.

The advice had actually been to call 999, but I did not want to make a fuss over nothing.

By the time I rang 111, I was struggling with words.

They recognised something bad was happening and called out paramedics who arrived within 10 minutes.

They were concerned that I might be having a stroke, so they took me to hospital in Lancaster, 25 miles away. 

A brain scan ruled out that I’d had a stroke. I then had a blood test and an ECG (an electrocardiogram) to check my heart’s rhythm and electrical activity.

I was taken by wheelchair into a hospital bay but still did not really think there was anything wrong with me.

I flippantly joked, ‘Oh this looks serious’, as someone wheeled a trolley into the bay. 

The doctor said, ‘That trolley's for you. The blood test shows you’ve had a heart attack.'

I had this feeling of complete disbelief when I was told. I still had not told my husband what was going on as I did not want to disturb his walk.

If I had not made that call, I could have died a year ago.

The next day I was sent to a cardiac centre in Blackpool for an angiogram.

I was given a sedative during the procedure and the next thing I remember is the consultant crouching down to my head level, telling me that the 3 major blood vessels supplying my heart were significantly blocked and I needed heart bypass surgery.

I was in hospital for 2 weeks before the open-heart surgery and then began a slow road to recovery.

I’m eating more healthily now and I’ve become a healthy weight, having previously been in the obese bracket.

I’m walking every day with my husband, and have completed a sponsored walk around the 75-mile Kirklees Way, in our area, to raise money for our local hospice.

I’ve been given a second chance, so I want to make the most of it.

If I had not made that call, I could have died a year ago. I’d say to anyone in that position, follow your instincts and get medical help."

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