The forgotten killer: Cardiovascular disease
In his days as an Australian Rules footballer, Nicky Winmar had felt plenty of pain and discomfort. But none of it compared to the chest pain that sent the 46-year-old retired athlete reeling early one morning in August 2012. The intense, crushing pain left him bewildered and pounding his breast to try to get relief
Fortunately, an ambulance rushed the famed athlete to Royal Perth Hospital in time for physicians to diagnose a heart attack and insert a stent into a clogged artery. Winmar survived but faced a long recovery which even required him to learn to walk again. The following year, he told a reporter from the (Victoria) Herald Sun, “I’ve lost jobs since my heart attack. I have to see my cardiologist every two to three months. Sometimes the medication gets you in a state where you get angry for no reason and you don’t know why. Why did it happen to me? Why did I have a heart attack?