Apple Watch is at the center of another life-saving experience. In an incredible story, a UK man credited Apple’s wearable and heart rate features for detecting a symptomless health issue that made his heart stop 138 times in just 48 hours.
Reported by The Independent via Apple Insider, David Last from Norfolk in the UK was gifted an Apple Watch for his birthday earlier this year by his wife Sarah.
When Last, age 54 started using the device, Apple Watch started giving him abnormally low heart rate warnings. Measurments as low as 30 beats per minute were recorded almost 3,000 different times.
Last figured his Apple Watch was defective, but his wife pushed him to see his doctor.
48-hour ECG
After first having an MRI in May and getting the results back in July, Last then had a 48-hour ECG test to get to the bottom of the abnormal heart rate.
The hospital called back five times trying to reach Last with the ECG results before he was able to respond – and realized how urgent it was.
What made his heart stop 138 times?
It turns out he had a symptomless and life-threatening third-degree heart block. During that 48-hour ECG, his “heart had stopped 138 times in 10-second intervals.”
Doctors were able to place a life-saving pacmaker into his heart in August. Very fortnuately, Apple Watch brought this to the surface with the low heart rate notifications when Last wasn’t experiencing any “symptoms whatsoever.”
Apple Watch is “always staying on me”
Here’s what Last shared about the experience:
“If she hadn’t bought me my Apple watch for my birthday, I wouldn’t be here. I will always be eternally grateful to her for it. Apart from charging it, it’s always staying on me now.
I had no symptoms whatsoever. We even went to Italy for 10 days for our honeymoon – I had no idea anything was wrong. Even the doctors were amazed.”
In a a wonderful ending to this story, “Last has since returned to work and attributes his wife to his recovery.”
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Image via The Independent
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