Home / Health / Man narrowly missed fatal heart attack after surgery
Man narrowly missed fatal heart attack after surgery
28 Apr
Summary
- BBC star Gary Rycroft ignored chest pains, fearing he was just aging.
- A cardiac CT scan revealed his main heart artery was nearly blocked.
- Doctors stated he was hours away from a potentially fatal heart attack.
BBC Morning Live's legal expert, Gary Rycroft, shared his alarming experience of being mere hours from a potentially fatal heart attack. Initially dismissing chest pains as signs of aging, Rycroft began the Couch to 5k challenge. His GP initiated a diagnostic journey, including an ECG and a cardiac CT scan.
The CT scan revealed the critical left anterior descending artery was "pretty much blocked," an artery often called the "widow maker." This news, discovered a couple of weeks after the scan, caused significant distress for Rycroft and his family.
A subsequent invasive angiogram and stent procedure confirmed the severity. Cardiologists informed him he was "hours or days" from a massive, potentially fatal heart attack. Rycroft emphasizes that such conditions are silent killers for those in their 50s and 60s and strongly advises prompt medical checks for any concerning symptoms, urging others not to wait as long as he did.
