‘Before going to hospital I said goodbye to my kids because I didn’t think I would make it’

Healthcare assistant Julie McAllister (45) lives in Carrickfergus with husband Derek. They have four children, Gemma (25), Darren (21), Jamie (18), and Emily (8). She says:

I’ve always done a lot of walking. When my niece started a Tae Bo class and asked if I wanted to go along, I joined and really enjoyed it.

I am a healthy eater and never drank much, but I did smoke about 10 cigarettes a day. I always classed myself as a healthy smoker.

Six years ago, though, I was at a Tae Bo class when I started feeling a bit sick. I walked over to get some water and, as I reached down, I felt a pain in my chest. It felt like an elephant was sitting on me. The pain went along both arms and settled in my jaw.

I phoned my husband and told him to come and get me — our house is five minutes away. When he arrived I told him to take me home and call an ambu- lance. I wanted to see my children in case I didn’t make it.

A rapid response paramedic came, gave me aspirin and said it might be muscle pain. But I thought it was something else because I had never felt anything like it before.

After a doctor had seen me at Antrim Area Hospital, it was confirmed that I’d suffered a heart attack. The doctor wasn’t happy with my condition, so I was sent to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast for a dye test in the cath lab.

This revealed that I’d had a spontaneous coronary artery dissection and I was rushed into theatre for a triple bypass.

It was really scary. I kept thinking, ‘This is an old person’s operation, so how could it happen to me?’

My family were brought in so they could see me before I went in for surgery.

The next two days I was in intensive care and another day in a high dependency unit before being admitted to a general ward.

It was a week later before I was discharged from hospital, and the medics felt I could go home because I had good family support.

Three months prior to having a heart attack I completed a CPR training course, where I learned how to identify all the signs of a heart attack.

All of them happened to me — the heaviness in my chest, the pain in my arm and jaw and the sickness.

I actually said goodbye to my children in the house before going to hospital because I really didn’t think I would survive it.

It can take six months for your breastbone to heal where they cut through it (prior to surgery), but I had some problems with the site where the doctors took a vein from my leg for the heart bypass, which meant I had nearly a year off work.

What I do can be quite physical — lifting patients in beds and that sort of thing.

I think it was hardest on my family. My husband had to learn how to do CPR and care for me. He worked nights and didn’t know if I would even be breathing when he came home. I’m in good health now, but it’s always in the back of my mind — if it happened once, it can happen again. My GP sees me regularly, as well as specialists at the Royal. Now I know the signs and all I would need to do is ring 999.

I haven’t touched a cigarette since that day and I go to the gym and walk about four nights a week. I try not to eat anything unhealthy at all these days. Otherwise I feel back to normal and I enjoy playing with my grandson, Kobi.

This year marked five years since I had a heart attack. I’ve started fundraising for Chest, Heart and Stroke because I want to do as much as I can.

All of the money raised is going into research and support groups.”