9 October 2024 · By Dan Perrin
What happened to you?
Bill: I suffered a sudden cardiac arrest, that is my heart just suddenly stopped. There was no warning, no pain, nodiscomfort. I got up out of a chair, felt dizzy & the next thing I knew I was looking up at the ceiling with a lot of anxious faces peering down at me & 2 people working on my chest. The fortunate thing was that I was working with a group of senior police officers at their HQ & 2 people next door were CPR trained.
I was taken to hospital & other than feeling bemused by what had happened I felt pretty much normal within 30 minutes. After undergoing various tests, I was discharged from A&E with the assumption being that I had suffered a first ever seizure. My wife came to collect me & we returned to our home. During the following hours, I had four more cardiac arrests including two while I was in an Intensive Care Unit. After stabilising my condition & a plethora of tests I was fitted with an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator. It has 2 parts – the first is a pacemaker which helps to stop the heart going into the unhelpful rhythm & the other is a defibrillator in case it ever does. Fortunately, the first part has done its job & I’ve never needed the shock treatment.
Howard: At the end of a family holiday in the USA back in August 2001 I had a heart attack – ironically while trying on a new pair of running shoes in a sports shop! I was 43 at the time and a very fit. I had felt no symptoms previously apart from feeling nauseous in the few days before it happened.
Fully conscious, I was blue lighted to hospital and had a coronary stent inserted into the completely blocked artery which immediately restored blood flow to the heart muscle. One of my other arteries was seen to be seriously blocked and that was stented 3 days later, just after a period of 48 hours in intensive care.
The treatment to insert the stent took place within 90 minutes of the onset of the attack which was key to my subsequent recovery. If it had happened 8 hours later I would have been over the Arctic Ocean at 35,000 feet and that would have had a very different outcome.
How did it Affect you as a runner?
Howard: This sounds a little crazy but in the ambulance I started to plan a return to training and then racing for the following spring – subject to surviving and subject to whatever the doctors said I would be able to do. I think this reflected running’s role in my life since the age of 10.
Tests in the USA showed there had been no damage to my heart muscle (which dies when blood supply is blocked for any length of time) – a result of my treatment being administered so quickly and the fact running had developed additional small blood vessels branching from my blocked artery which had provided some blood supply to the area of heart muscle affected. Those tests were confirmed back in the UK where (with amazing luck) my two cardiologists were both runners!
I attended a weekly cardiac rehabilitation programme over 10 weeks. I undertook supervised running on a treadmill all wired up to an ECG. I was told there was no reason why, in time, I couldn’t run as before.
I gradually returned to training, running HAC’s Christmas handicap in December 2001 (I started near the front!) and had my first race at the EMGP in May 2002 at Rugby. I was doing all these very steadily and I absolutely obeyed my doctors’ instructions. By the autumn, one year on, I was in full training and competing seriously again on track and road. Since then, I have competed over distances from 400m to the marathon. I did manage to run quicker in some races post heart attack compared with pre heart attack showing there had been no adverse effects.
So, it hasn’t had any lasting effect on my running, except to make me appreciate it even more. What holds me back these days are arthritic knees!
Bill: The first thing to say is that had I not been fit it is exceedingly unlikely that I would have survived one let alone three out of hospital cardiac arrests. I had taken up distance running in my fifties & had run a first marathon at the age of 55. I then managed to lose weight & by the time of the arrests I had run 14 marathons including a 100km ultra about 4 months earlier. I had never been fitter.
Despite this I needed to ask the doctors whether my endeavours had contributed to my problems. I was categorically assured that this was not the case & had it not been for my level of fitness I would not be alive. The MRI scan which was done indicated that there had been minimal damage to my heart tissue and therefore there was no reason that I couldn’t get back to running. In fact several doctors made the point that the worst thing I could do was to become sedentary. I was determined to get back to running but needed to give the device time to get embedded and then went through treadmill tests as an outpatient in the hospital to ensure everything would be okay. After getting the all clear I did my first gentle run about three months after it had all happened. As anyone knows who has had that kind of time or longer off, it felt as though I was starting again.
What did family, friends & club members do that really supported you in getting back to fitness?
Bill: I wasn’t a club member at the time but so many people helped in so many ways. Firstly Claire was my greatest supporter. She never said “don’t do it” & encouraged me endlessly. Various friends who took me out with them & would drive me to locations for runs in the period in which I was unable to drive. The medics at the Oxford Heart Centre and in particular the ICD Specialist Nurse, encouraged me so much as did the BHF particularly when I enrolled for the Reading Half through them- so many people to whom I owe an enormous debt of gratitude. I ran my first half marathon (with ICD) appropriately in Oxford about a year after it all happened & followed it up with three more. In April 2015 I managed to get into the London marathon, running to raise funds for the BHF of course.
I have now done more marathons since my cardiac arrest than before. I have never quite got back to the sub 4 hour times of 2010/11 with a best in 2017 of just under 4 16 minutes & now getting into my mid 70s, 4 hours 30 minutes is a testing target. Joining the club has given me a new lease of life and the encouragement motivates me to carry on for as long as I can.
Howard: With close family and friends there is always an additional worry following such a shock. It was important to keep them fully informed, let them ask questions about what the cardiologists had said, and demonstrate to them I was sticking to a very sensible plan.
Thank you, HAC! Getting back to the club in time for Christmas was a major and very happy milestone. I started in Green group and was back in Yellow within a few weeks (taking it easy though). It may be different for other people but what really worked for me was that after a warm welcome on my return everyone treated me just as before. The club provided a much-needed space where life felt normal, whilst returning to work was more difficult to get used to as my colleagues were unsure how to react.
I know the club coaches were a little apprehensive and I did explain the advice I had been given that I was capable of a full return to running to reassure everyone. Twenty plus years ago it wasn’t that common to pick up from where you had left off after a heart attack, though that has changed. I am grateful I was supported at the time and being open with them helped.
What is your advice to others given your personal experience?
Bill: Get basic CPR training. I would not be alive had I not been lucky enough to have such people around me. In Norway they have about the same incidence of cardiac arrest as in the UK but have a survival rate of 50%. In the UK our survival rate is about 5%! The difference is that in Norway primary school children are trained in CPR & have been for years. We are now introducing it into secondary schools as a consequence of pressure from the BHF & other pressure groups. It is a big step forward but there is more to do.
Most people who use CPR do so on a relative or close friend so increasing the number of people who have this skill is a vital component in increasing our survival rates & avoiding heartbreak.
Howard:
1 If you think you are having a heart attack don’t hesitate for one second to call 999; it could save your life, and fast treatment will help your heart stay strong.
2 Just because you are a fit runner don’t think it can’t happen to you. Understand the risk factors for coronary heart disease, know your numbers including blood pressure, cholesterol and BMI, and be very aware of any family history. Consult your GP for advice and never ignore a symptom such as chest pain that comes on with exercise.
3 If prescribed medication take it regularly and stick to it. This will reduce your risk, or if you have coronary heart disease like me, will significantly reduce the chance of it happening again. The same goes for lifestyle changes like diet.
4 Prevention is infinitely preferable to cure. But if something like this ever happens to you make sure you have a conversation with doctors about running and what you should be capable of doing. They can’t advise if they don’t knowwhat you do!
5 It takes time for confidence and fitness to return. The club is a great source of support for both.
