In general, I have always considered myself to be healthy without having ever suffered any major issues along the way, something which I have always been grateful for and never took for granted. I have undertaken some form of exercise since the late 90s which back then consisted mainly of circuit training which then I did a lot less when my work and personal circumstances changed. I loved the running aspect of it and this was something that became a stand alone activity from around 2012 and I'm happy to say I still take part on a more regular basis now.

Along the way, I have been lucky enough to compete in many 10k events, Great North Run in 2014 and the London Marathon in 2015, completing them in fairly respectable times.

I then found Burnley Park Run in 2017, again doing it when work circumstances allow but now, I can do it on a weekly basis thanks to an alteration in work patterns in 2023.

I had a brief break from running, not for any health reasons, possibly motivation at the time but decided in August 2023 to get back to it properly and off I went.

From what I thought was a fitness perspective, I was struggling a bit - couldn't re-establish my old rhythm, seemed to be stopping a lot (something I'd never done) but just thought at 54 years of age, maybe this may not be for me anymore but I was determined to overcome it so I joined my local athletics club in Colne, Lancashire in an attempt to run in a more structured environment but this struggle seemed to continue and I just couldn't understand why my stamina was sadly lacking but did not for one second think that it was medical related.

I carried on, still undertaking Park Run on a Saturday morning but that was also a struggle with a lot of stopping taking place and taking an unusually long time for me to complete the 5km distance.

Half way through my Park Run on Saturday 30th September 2023, I felt a jolt in my chest, stopped kind of briefly, then carried on without giving it a massive thought but completing the run in a much slower timer than I was used to.

On Tuesday October 3rd 2023 at work, I was just casually walking from from one area to another and felt this chest jolt again but still I wasn't going in to any sort of panic that something serious was amiss.

That same evening, I went out for my Training run with my local athletics club and the struggle became much more pronounced. While out running, I felt a very sharp chest pain which was curtailing my run somewhat, the big difference this time was that there was also a corresponding pain heading down my left arm. Inwardly, I am now getting concerned that this is definitely not right but outwardly, I stupidly finished the run then headed home feeling quite unwell but maybe psychologically not contemplating the inevitible as I thought this can't be happening to me.

First thing my wife asked me when I arrived home was how was the run as I hadn't been with the Athletics Club that long and I proceeded to say "don't think I googled this but I've got quite a nasty chest pain and it's also going down my left arm". My youngest son had overheard this as he was in the dining room and he came in and just said "Dad, I think you should get this checked out". I was still not entirely convinced it was a major event and was set to leave it until the morning to ring my GP but he was insistent that I really needed to go to hospital.

At the back of my mind was the fact that we were due to fly out to Lanzarote with friends to celebrate our Silver Wedding Anniversary in a matter of weeks. My son offered to take me to Burnley General Hospital to have this checked out as I said to my wife to stay at home as it will probably be nothing but I did state "if there is something wrong, that stuffs up our trip to Lanzarote" (you can see where my priorities were at this point!!!)

I was seen and triaged quite promptly at the hospital and it seemed that the ECG was quite inconclusive, however, the blood test had some other pretty significant ideas - my troponin levels were 25,000!!! The nurse was consulting with the Doctor and he then calmly came across to me and calmly said the words that still eat through me now - "You're having a heart attack and it's ongoing. We will be arranging an ambulance to transfer you to Blackpool Victoria Hospital Cardiac Centre as that is where you need to be...." devastated doesn't quite cover it. My poor son had to then contact my wife to let her know and she rushed down. When the paramedics arrived to carry out the 50 mile transfer, I asked one of them - "Jason, will there be blue lights and accompanying music (sirens) for my ambulance journey?" His reply was "Yip - I'm afraid so...." My night just went from bad to worse!! My wife accompanied me in the ambulance and my 2 sons followed. They initially attempted to follow the ambulance but due to the blue light nature of its departure from Burnley, they thought better of it!!!!

I was taken straight to the Coronary Care Unit at Blackpool Victoria Hospital arriving at around 1.05am and was looked after by Chris, one of the consultants. He carried out various tests including an Ultrasound and said that it was pretty likely I had suffered a heart attack but I would require an Angioplasty procedure so that they could get a more detailed look at precisely what had gone on.

The procedure was carried out first thing on Wednesday morning (4th October 2023) and it turned out my left coronary artery was 90% blocked and contained a lot of plaque. At the same, they carried out a rotoblation procedure which drilled off the plaque surrounding the artery and fitted 3 stents - surgeon said I was brand new!! I had a bit of a nasty turn during the following night at around 3.50am where I felt really unwell, BP had dropped to 60/40, heart rate significantly reduced which set alarm bells off on the CCU. I ended up having quite a number of staff in my room (I was told they were the crash team) at an ungodly hour. Chris attended me again, another ultrasound was carried out but thankfully the artery was still open as this was initially the concern. I was given IV fluids and as it turned out it was more than likely down to the fact I hadn't had enough to drink following what was quite a lengthy procedure. I did immediately begin to feel much better quickly - the panic was thankfully over. This little episode I found more scary than the heart attack itself!!!

Overall, I spent 5 days in Blackpool Victoria and much to my family's relief, I was discharged on Sunday 8th October 2023. I received Gold Standard treatment and feel I couldn't thank them enough for quite literally saving my life. On my way home, we went to see our youngest son who was working at McDonald's at the time. I gave him a hug when I saw him, he was so overcome with emotion and just burst into tears. He was probably the biggest push to encourage me to get checked out what was going on, he had played a huge part in saving my life as the Doctor at Burnley had said if I hadn't attended when I did, the outcome may have been different. I still wondered if my running days were now confined to the history books.....

I was offered the opportunity to undertake Cardio Rehabilitation which took place at Burnley General Hospital and was looked after by Pippa and her fantastic team who really helped me back on the path to fitness. I continued my return to fitness journey at my local gym by joining a programme called "Up and Active" which was a closely-supervised training for people like myself who were looking to achieve fitness and who also may have suffered cardiac or similar events. I was asked by Emma who looked after me if I had any goals and my reply was to get back to doing my local Park Run but only when she thought I was fully fit.

Fast forward to the 7th July 2024, a beautiful, sunny Saturday morning at Towneley Park, Burnley and I was there at the start line to take up where I left off and boy, what a feeling this was to be able to do this again. I completed it without any incident and no stopping whatsoever - the difference from my previous Park Run in September 2023 was quite remarkable. I felt totally rejuvenated and motivated to now make this a weekly occurrence once more. I carried on my fitness journey and to my amazement, achieved a Personal Best from a time that had stood since 2017!!! I felt my return to fitness was pretty much complete.

Such is my motivation is the reason why I signed up to the Great Manchester Run Half Marathon on Sunday May 31st 2026 where I hope to raise some money for the British Heart Foundation as I firmly believe that without the extensive research that has been undertaken for many decades that myself and many others would not have benefitted from undergoing such non-invasive life-saving procedures allowing us to return to the quality of life we had before our cardiac events, something for which I will always be so grateful for.

My 2 sons are also running in the event alongside me - it was actually my youngest who signed up for it first closely followed by my eldest.

Thank you for your time and if my story was to help at least one person as to what they can achieve following a heart attack, I will be very happy.

John

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