Man suffered 'widowmaker' heart attack after thinking symptoms were from spicy food for dinner
A 'fit and healthy' man, who thought the pain in his chest was from eating spicy food, suffered a 'widowmaker' heart attack the following day.
Mario Ciccarello, 34, and Stephanie James, 38, were out for a Mexican on Valentine's Day (14 February) when his partner jokingly asked if he was 'dying' from chest pain.
The next day, the dad-of-two from Fort Lauderdale in Florida was doing an outdoor workout when he started to experience chest pain once again.
He then told Stephanie he was going for a nap because it felt like his heart was 'shutting down'.
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"You have been looking rough, are you dying?" she sarcastically replied. Mario then joked: "I think I might be."
Two hours later, the pain became so unbearable that Stephanie took Mario to hospital where he was told he was suffering a 'widowmaker' heart attack.
A widowmaker heart attack 'happens when you have a blockage in the biggest artery in your heart', according to Cleveland Clinic.
"That means blood can’t move through your left anterior descending artery, which provides 50 percent of your heart muscle’s blood supply. Immediate treatment is crucial for a chance at survival," the medical centre explains.
Doctors acted quickly and inserted two stents in his heart to relieve a 95 percent blockage.
"In my head I thought, 'These are symptoms of a heart attack,' but I'm reframing my mind because I'm 34 years old [and] an ultra-marathon runner, so I have heartburn because I ate Mexican food last night," he explained.
Looking back, Mario said his chest 'started to hurt pretty significantly, and then it started to move into my shoulder and then my left arm'.
When his pain came back, he said it was 'like a tidal wave' and 'ten times worse. ... My whole left side felt like it was detaching from my body'.
"I looked at my son sleeping and wondered if it was the last time I was going to see him," he added.
Stephanie said: "I thought he was just tired from this week.
"I was joking around, asking if he was dying, and I wouldn't have ever believed that he actually was.
"He's looked really skinny and had less color in his skin in the past week, but I thought he just looked tired.
"When I knew he was okay, I felt extreme relief and gratitude. Thankfully, he's here — and he's alive," she said.
A GoFundMe has since been set up to help Mrio pay his medical bills.
Anish Vij