Real life story
"Life doesn't have to end after a heart attack"
Overcoming the challenges of two heart attacks and bypass surgery, Don Evitts found there was more to life.
Don Evitts had no idea he had heart problems when he fainted on the plane on the way to a holiday in Menorca in 1998. “It was scarier for my wife, Sue,” says Don, now 73. “They had an ambulance waiting for me when we landed.”
After returning to a stable condition in the airport medical centre, Don, who was 50 at the time, was able to enjoy the rest of the holiday. When he got back to the UK, he was diagnosed with angina and put on medication.
I was shocked. But we got ourselves together
On a cold day in January 2004, Don started to feel unwell. He first put his breathlessness down to a chest infection he was getting over. But when he felt pain in his right arm, he realised it was something more serious. In hospital later that day, tests confirmed he’d had a heart attack and, following an angiogram, he was told he would need bypass surgery. “I was shocked and Sue was in pieces,” says Don. “But we got ourselves together.”
Waiting for bypass surgery
Don ending up waiting a year, as his surgery was pushed back three times. As he was on sick leave, Don kept himself occupied by cataloguing all the records he owned – all 33,000 of them. He previously worked in the music industry, first as a songwriter (among his hits is the 1975 record We’re Going Up, an anthem for Aston Villa) and then as a manager for groups including the punk band UXB.
Keeping busy is key, so you don't dwell on waiting for surgery
Don focused on getting in shape, walking regularly, practising yoga, and eating a healthier diet, with more fruit and vegetables. He also discovered a love of gardening. “Keeping busy is key, so you don’t dwell on waiting for surgery,” he says. “Life doesn’t have to end after a heart attack.”
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Don finally had bypass surgery in February 2005. He says the hardest part of recovery was the pain in his leg, where a blood vessel was taken out, to use to bypass his blocked coronary artery.
“As my leg healed in the first couple of weeks, it was really painful putting the surgical stocking on and I had to use sticks to walk for about a month,” says Don. “I have a scar from my ankle up to my thigh.”
After the operation, he decided, together with his employer Royal Mail, to medically retire. That’s when his new passion for gardening became something more. He started selling plants he had grown and doing part-time garden work for others.“
Being a manager had been stressful,” says Don. “With gardening, I was doing something I really loved, which kept me active.”
A second heart attack
In 2015, Don retired from gardening and the couple moved from Tamworth in the Midlands to Torquay in Devon. They had just started settling into their new life, enjoying daily walks by the coast, when in May 2016, Don had another heart attack.
“This time I knew exactly what was happening. I felt it in the right arm again and was in a cold sweat,” remembers Don. “I thought ‘I’m going to die’.”
Don was taken by ambulance to the hospital, where his condition stabilised. This time, after leaving hospital, Don was invited onto a cardiac rehab programme, where he picked up useful tips on gentle exercise, ways to reduce stress, and how to make healthy lifestyle changes. “We’ve changed our diet quite a lot,” says Don. “We eat a lot more fish and plant-based meals and less red meat.”
- Learn more about cardiac rehabilitation
Another heart attack
The experience also pushed him to take stock. “I had a lot of stories from working in the music industry, and people always said you should write a book. After my second heart attack, I thought I’ve got to do this.”
Don has self-published a three-part autobiography. At first just for friends and family, the books are now stocked in local libraries where he grew up and are sold through Smethwick Heritage Centre’s online shop.It's never too late to achieve your dream
“If someone told me I’d become an author in my seventies, I wouldn’t have believed it,” says Don. “Recovering from heart problems, not only from the physical aspects but the emotional ones too, was a struggle at times. But I never gave up. My message to anyone recovering is, it’s never too late to achieve your dream.”
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