Wife's Love For Medical Dramas Saves Husband Who Suffered Two Heart Attacks Hours Apart

A Scottish woman’s love for real-life medical dramas helped her quickly realize her husband was experiencing symptoms of a heart attack. The man was in recovery after suffering two heart attacks in the span of a few hours.

Michelle Birnie-Mackintosh from Premnay, in the Scottish council area of Aberdeenshire, said she recognized her 50-year-old husband’s symptoms when he complained of vomiting, chest pains, and tingling in his hands.

“I came downstairs and he was just sitting there. He said he didn’t feel well, and his skin was almost silver and translucent, and he was cold and clammy,” Michelle said, according to LADbible. "I asked him how his hands felt and he said they felt tingly and his chest was tight between his shoulders, and then he was sick."

Michelle thought her husband, Greg, a father-of-four was having a heart attack and called an ambulance on the night of March 1.

“We watch a lot of 999 programs like What’s Your Emergency and 24 Hours in A and E and all of them definitely paid off because I knew he was having a heart attack,” she added.

Michelle thought her husband would soon be rushed to the hospital and possibly have a stent put in, just like in the medical shows she had watched. However, things grew concerning when she was told that no ambulance was available. Michelle wrote on a JustGiving fundraising page that Greg had two heart attacks at home.

It took a couple of hours before Greg was finally on the way to the hospital. He had three cardiac arrests on the way to the hospital and was shocked back to life with a defibrillator.

“A defibrillator [in the ambulance] saved my husband’s life. Without it, I would be planning his funeral,” Michelle said, according to the outlet.

After keeping Greg under intensive care in a coma for two weeks, doctors fitted a balloon pump in his heart to improve blood flow.

“The odds of him coming out of three cardiac arrests was only two percent and, if you’re in a coma for two or more weeks, the chances are you come out in a vegetative state. So to come out of all that almost unscathed is unbelievable,” Michelle said, according to Aberdeen Live.

Michelle is now raising money to buy defibrillators, similar to the life-saving device that saved Greg’s life in the ambulance.

She recently won a competition that rewarded her with nearly $13,000 and a house worth roughly $435,400. Michelle used some of the money to buy a defibrillator and is now raising money to buy two more for the village.

“They really do save lives. I don’t think enough people understand that,” she said, according to the outlet. “If you have a cardiac arrest your heart has literally stopped and that’s when you need to use it.”