A SEEMINGLY fit and healthy dad struggled through his wife’s gym class, desperate not to look like a ‘wimp’ – before having a heart attack and dropping dead for seven minutes.
Dale Bilson, from Castle Donington, Leicestershire, began feeling unwell minutes after joining an early morning HIIT session with his partner Sophie in August.
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The 37-year-old soon noticed a tightness around his chest that he put down to “being a wimp” and decided to push on with the class, as his wife joked she thought he was “fitter than this”.
However, after one circuit of burpees and squat jumps, the dad-of-one had to leave the group for some fresh air as the pain in his chest worsened.
Concerned it may be a sign of something more sinister, Dale was taken to A&E by his wife Sophie to be checked over.
Just a few minutes after arriving, the business owner went into cardiac arrest – when the heart stops beating suddenly – in the hospital waiting room and was given emergency CPR.
Read more on heart attacks
Doctors made three attempts to restart Dale’s heart while he lay dead on a hospital bed for an excruciating seven minutes.
Luckily, on the third attempt, Dale was brought back to life – and taken into surgery to have a stent fitted into the blocked artery that caused the heart attack and subsequent cardiac arrest.
Dale, who exercises regularly by playing rugby, football and going to the gym, had no prior heart-related issues, and now feels lucky to be alive.
He’s urging others to know the signs and symptoms of a heart attack and cardiac arrest.
Dale said: “My wife persuaded me to do an early morning HIIT class at our local gym.
“We started doing the warm up and I felt more tired than I normally would.
“I managed one set of circuits doing burpees and squat thrusts and that sort of thing and my wife looked over at me and said, ‘You’ve already stopped, I thought you were fitter than this’.
“At the start of the second circuit, I thought this doesn’t feel right at all.
“I felt like I needed some fresh air and took myself out of the environment.
“My chest was starting to feel a bit tight, which developed into a bit of pain.
Subtle signs of a heart attack
A HEART attack is when the supply of the blood to the heart is suddenly blocked.
It is a medical emergency and needs to be treated right away.
Around 100,000 people are admitted to hospital due to heart attacks every year in the UK, according to the British Heart Foundation.
That’s 290 each day, or one every five minutes.
Some symptoms, like chest pain, shortness of breath and feeling lightheaded or dizzy, can be fairly obvious.
But the signs aren’t always so blatant, the NHS warns. Other more subtle symptoms of a heart attack include:
- Pain in other parts of the body (it can feel as if the pain is spreading from your chest to your arms, jaw, neck, back and stomach)
- Sweating
- Feeling sick
- Vomiting
- An overwhelming feeling of anxiety (similar to a panic attack)
- Weakness or fatigue
- Coughing
- Wheezing
A heart attack and cardiac arrest are similar, but not the same.
A cardiac arrest is when the heart stops pumping blood around the body.
“Being a bloke, I thought I’ve already been a wimp leaving the class so if I leave it five minutes, the pain will wear off.”
However, after waiting 15 minutes for the tightness to subside, Dale’s chest pain grew worse – prompting Sophie to drive him to their local hospital.
Within two minutes of arriving, Dale went into cardiac arrest while sitting in the A&E waiting room.
Dale said: “They started CPR on me and put me onto a machine that does CPR mechanically which forces your heart to start beating.
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“They tried to get my heart started on its own, but it didn’t work the first two times apparently. They said I had no heartbeat for seven or eight minutes.
“Apparently if it was over nine minutes, your risk of not being resuscitated goes up massively.
“Soph was told to phone everyone to come see me and say goodbye.”
Eventually, doctors were able to get Dale’s heart restarted and he immediately had a cardiac stent fitted to prevent further health issues.
Being a bloke, I thought I’ve already been a wimp leaving the class so if I leave it five minutes, the pain will wear off
Dale Bilson
Dale was told one artery was completely blocked and a further two were 70 per cent blocked – causing the blood flow to his heart to be cut off.
Dale said: “At my age, it was pretty much unheard of. Family history is a big part of it and we think stress had an impact.
“Almost every doctor I’ve spoken to has told me how young I am.
“The doctors told me that the stars aligned. If I hadn’t been with my wife at the gym, she wouldn’t have been able to drive me and I could’ve gone into cardiac arrest on the way there.
“So many different things went in my favour. It hit home that my daughter could’ve been going to her first day of school without a dad and my wife Sophie would’ve been a widow at 28.
“I would tell people to always check out their family history and if you have any concerns at all, get yourself checked out at the doctor.
“And if you’re in a situation where you think you’re having a heart attack, phone 999.”
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