Apple Watch heart rate monitor saves woman from blockage that had 88% chance of killing her
Of all the life saving features on the Apple Watch, perhaps the most employed one is the heart rate monitor because it is the easiest to use and understand. When your heart rate rises above a certain level or falls below a certain level, it means that you need to visit the ER immediately. ABC13 in Michigan reported the story of Diane Feenstra, a woman from Norton Shores Michigan whose Apple Watch allowed her to survive the kind of massive heart attack that only 12% survive according to the AHA.
Heart rate monitor on Apple Watch helps woman survive blocked "widow-maker" artery
This type of heart attack, which affects what is known as the widow-maker artery, is fatal 88% of the time when it happens outside of the hospital. Diane explains what happened on April 22nd, the day that she nearly died. " The day in question, April 22, I had 169 beats per minute heart rate even though the most vigorous exercise I had done was to walk up 12 steps. So I called my husband at work and said do you think this is concerning? And he said call your doctor.
At the hospital, an EKG revealed that she had recently had a heart attack, but didn't know it. "Unlike men who feel an elephant on their chest many times, a woman's symptoms are very different. I had pain going down my left hand, I had a little swelling in my left foot, I had indigestion that I just explained away as acid reflux that I was experiencing as I got older."
Pain in her shoulder she explained away as coming from a recent bit of vacuuming that threw her muscles out of whack. But the truth was that she was experiencing a life-threatening medical emergency. "I think God used that watch to alert me to the fact that my heart wasn't functioning properly," she said.
It turned out that Diane suffered a full blockage in the widow-maker artery. A stent procedure was done and today she is alive and well. Now she and her husband will be able to celebrate their 48th wedding anniversary this coming August.
Both Diane and her husband Gary own their own Apple Watch
Diane had purchased an Apple Watch for her husband Gary and even though she didn't want one, he bought it for her anyway and all the gesture did was save her life. Feenstra said, "It's such an easy thing to see what your heart rate is, had I not done that that morning who knows but I may have had another heart attack that would have been fatal."
Just the other day, we told you how the timepiece's fall detection feature helped save a 78-year old man who had fallen, breaking his nose and becoming unconscious. Thanks to the fall detection feature, he was able to receive medical assistance and credited the watch with saving his life.
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