A 42-year-old man in the UK has shared how a smartwatch helped him survive a heart attack. According to Express. co. uk, Paul Wapham, the CEO of Hockey Wales, was on his morning run near his home in the Morriston area of Swansea when he felt an acute pain in his chest. He somehow managed to contact his wife through his watch, who rushed him to the hospital.
He told Wales Online, ”I went for a morning run at 7 am as I normally do, and about five minutes in I had a massive pain in my chest.”
”My chest felt tight and then I was on my hands and knees on the road. Initially, it was a bit tight but then it felt like it was being squeezed, like a vice. The pain was incredible. I managed to use my watch to phone my wife, Laura. Luckily, I was only five minutes away, so she could take me in the car to the hospital. She ran in and called for paramedics, who quickly came and took over,” he added.
At the hospital, it was discovered that he had a heart attack due to a complete blockage in one of his arteries. He was then taken to the catheterization laboratory at the hospital’s Cardiac Centre, where he underwent a procedure to unclog this blocked artery. He stayed in the coronary unit for six days to recover before going back home. He will be attending an after-care service at the hospital as part of his ongoing rehabilitation.
Mr Wapham said that the incident was a shock for everybody.
”It was a bit of a shock as I’m not overweight and I try to keep myself fit so I had no risk factors. It was a shock for everybody really, including my family.”
He also thanked his wife and the hospital staff for their care and support. ”The care I received was brilliant. I can’t speak highly enough of the staff. I am also really thankful to my wife for bringing me to the hospital because it was a shock for her as well. It was pretty tense for a couple of hours. It’s reassuring to know that when you need the emergency department, the staff are there for you. The staff there were just awesome, and I just want to say a big thank you to all of them.”
Smartwatches have proven to be a life saviour on many occasions. There have been many incidents about how it saved lives by detecting abnormalities in users’ health by using sensors that measure heart rate, ECG, and more.
