'I knew something was wrong on family holiday - glad I trusted my instincts'

30 September 2023 , 21:27

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Though healthy and with no history of heart attacks in her family, Karen went on to have a second heart attack 15 years later at the age of 55 (Image: Karen Molloy)

A woman has recalled how she knew something was wrong moments before she was told she had suffered a heart attack.

Karen Molloy was holidaying in Scotland she felt an all-encompassing sense of dread. The 57-year-old Swinton resident experienced a sudden wave of nausea and light-headedness as she was getting ready to go white-water rafting. At the time the mum-of-three had just turned 40 and decided to ignore the symptoms and enjoy the remainder of her family trip.

However, just one week later, Karen was showering when the same lightheaded sensation came back, along with pain in her neck. She went to A&E and was told she probably had some bad indigestion. But doctors decided to look her over to be on the safe side.

Karen says that often heart attacks don’t show like they do on TV (Karen Molloy)

Karen, who works as a health visitor for the NHS, stayed in hospital for a few days before being sent home with medication (Karen Molloy)

To her shock, it turned out that Karen had experienced a heart attack. “I was told by the cardiologists that those things that happened to me in Scotland were warning signs,” she told the Manchester Evening News. “The actual heart attack happened when I went to hospital.

“The reason I’m happy to share my story is because often heart attacks don’t show like they do on TV where people collapse. For some people it feels like that, but lots of people will have heaviness, tightness, radiating or discomfort. It’s just about trying to recognise those symptoms. My intuition was that something wasn’t right. There was something telling me.”

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Karen, who works as a health visitor for the NHS, stayed in hospital for a few days before being sent home with medication, which she will need to take for the rest of her life. A new survey recently published by NHS England has revealed a lack of confidence among the public in recognising the symptoms of a heart attack.

Nearly half of adults said they were not confident they could recognise the signs, rising to more than half in those aged over 55 who are more at risk. The findings come as part of NHS England’s ongoing Help Us, Help You campaign to raise awareness of heart attack symptoms and help save more lives.

While the most common symptom is chest pain, symptoms can vary from person to person. Other symptoms can include a feeling of pain; pressure, heaviness, tightness or squeezing across your chest, pain in other parts of the body – such as in the arms (usually the left arm, but it can affect both arms), jaw, neck, back and tummy; feeling lightheaded or dizzy; sweating; shortness of breath; feeling sick (nausea) or being sick (vomiting); an overwhelming feeling of anxiety (similar to a panic attack) and coughing or wheezing.

Though healthy and with no history of heart attacks in her family, Karen went on to have a second heart attack 15 years later at the age of 55. “It was a massive shock,” she added. “It had never occurred to me that I had any issues with my heart at all.

“I was a mum of three kids and my youngest was quite young. It really impacted on what I thought my future was going to look like. I thought, am I going to survive? I thought they only happened to older people. I didn’t know of any young people like myself having one.

“At the time, it was a massive psychological impact. I couldn’t stop smoking because I didn’t smoke, I didn’t drink much. It felt even more stressful because how could I change my life to stop it happening in the future? I’m still here and I’m very, very lucky and I feel privileged to be here because I’ve had two heart attacks. If I can help and support people with the help they need, then I feel like it’s worthwhile.”

The latest NHS figures show that there were more than 84,000 hospital heart attack admissions in England during 2021/22, up by more than 7,000 compared to the previous year when fewer people came forward for care during the pandemic.

Professor Nick Linker, cardiologist and NHS England’s national clinical director for heart disease, said: “Heart disease is one of the biggest killers in the UK, but we know that 9 in 10 people will survive a heart attack if they reach hospital early – which is why it is so crucial that people are aware of the symptoms of a heart attack and act upon them.

“Every moment that passes during a heart attack increases heart muscle damage and nearly all of this damage occurs in the first few hours of an attack, so if you experience pain or squeezing across your chest, accompanied with a feeling of unease, it’s vital to call 999 and check your symptoms.”

Paige Oldfield