Heart attacks can happen with no warning, but quick thinking and a common household item helped save a Wylie man's life.
Danny Saxon, 50, was working on a client’s pool when his arms and hands began to tingle and he felt he might pass out.
The father of three called his wife Morgan, who kept a magnet listing the signs of a heart attack on their kitchen refrigerator.
She texted him an image of a magnet.
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"It has always kind of given me comfort to have that there because if he were to have anything, we can just look at it or if we thought that he were to have a heart attack or anybody, it's kind of just there," said Morgan, who made the magnet seven years ago knowing of her husband's family history of heart disease.
"I was certainly having multiple symptoms that were on the list for sure," said Saxon.
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He got himself to Medical City McKinney’s emergency department and the medical team immediately starts treating him for a heart attack.
Within an hour of his arrival, he goes into cardiac arrest. His heart stopped beating.
Megan Peters was the emergency department nurse tending to Saxon.
"I had turned around and I heard his wife kind of gasp. I look over and he was unconscious," said Peters.
"I laid his bed down flat and got leverage, climbed up on my knees on the side of the bed so I could begin CPR," she said. "When I went to start my third round of compressions, he kind of opened his eyes, looked up at me, and grabbed my hands. I said, 'Well, hi!' He just kind of looked at me and I was like, 'Yeah, you scared us all a little bit, you know?'"
His doctors said his decision to come to the ER as soon as he started to experience symptoms likely saved his life.
Cardiologists found Saxon’s right coronary artery was 100% blocked and was not receiving any blood flow.
They were able to reopen the vessel with a balloon and stented the artery to restore blood flow.
"I just couldn't believe what happened and how lucky I am and how blessed I am to still be here," said Saxon.
HEART ATTACK WARNING SIGNS
• Uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness, or pain in the center of the chest that lasts more than a few minutes or goes away and comes back.
• Pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw, or stomach.
• Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.
• Breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea, or lightheadedness.
