Fitness coach, 22, who suffered a 'widow-maker' heart attack reveals 999 call ... trends now
A fitness coach has told how 999 call handlers dismissed her heart attack as being 'anxiety'.
Faith Harrison felt a bit 'strange' after playing in a hockey match on January 6 – but never considered it might be something to do with her heart.
The 22-year-old, from Little Minsterly, Shropshire, revealed her arm 'just went numb and tingly'.
Her chest, meanwhile, became very tight 'like someone was sitting on it'.
Concerned about her symptoms, she drove to her parent's house and immediately told her family and partner that 'something is wrong'.
Faith Harrison as fitness coach from Little Minsterly, Shropshire, has been left with permanent damage to her heart after her heart attack was dismissed as anxiety
Her father then called 999 after she began violently vomiting.
Miss Harrison said: 'The call handler said it was probably anxiety or a panic attack.
'By this time, I knew something was seriously wrong.'
Miss Harrison's partner Sam and her father drove her to A&E at Telford's Princess Royal Hospital.
Doctors then decided she needed to be taken to the nearest cardiology specialist centre, at the Royal Stoke University Hospital.
Tests – taken seven hours after her symptoms began – revealed she had suffered a 'widow-maker' heart attack.
Medics said she was lucky to be alive.
The 22-year-old was also diagnosed with a patent foramen ovale (PFO), a small hole between the top two chambers of the heart which usually closes after birth
The avid gym goer has been left with permanent damage to her heart.
Miss Harrison is now calling for greater awareness of heart attack symptoms among younger people and NHS staff.
Recalling the day of her heart attack, she said: 'After the match, I just didn’t feel like myself.
'I didn’t feel sick or ill, just not like me.
'I got in my car to drive home and about 30 minutes in, my arm just went numb and tingly, and my chest went very tight like someone was sitting on it.
'I did wonder if something serious was going on.
'But I could speak and move so I thought I was ok. I never thought it could be to do with my heart.'
Chest pain and pain that spreads to the arms are tell-tale signs of a heart attack, as is feeling sick, sweaty, light-headed or short of breath. However, it's possible to have a heart attack without experiencing these symptoms
Miss Harrison, who travelled over an hour to play in the hockey match, decided to drive to her parent's house because it was closer than her own.
'Somehow, I got there, but as soon as I walked in, I said "something is wrong"
'My parents, my partner Sam, and I all thought my blood sugar was low.
'But I violently vomited up anything they tried to give me,' she added.
Hospital tests revealed a blood clot was blocking one of Miss Harrison's coronary arteries by 90 per cent. It is one of the major blood pipelines and can prove fatal without urgent treatment.
