Snooker chief Barry Hearn reveals wife’s reaction to his heart attack was ‘one of the funniest moments of my life’
BARRY HEARN has claimed his first heart attack was “one of the funniest” moments of his life.
The Matchroom founder has suffered two heart attacks in his life – the first in 2002 and the second in 2020.
Hearn, 76, rose to prominence in the 1970s through his exploits in sport.
He was the chairman of the PDC until 2021 and a popular boxing promoter.
He has recently opened up on his health troubles in a positive manner and explained that his wife Susan struggled to understand the gravity of the risks.
Hearn admitted that Susan did not like using the phone and tried to put off calling for help.
On The Barry Hearn Show podcast, he said: “I enjoyed both of them.
“They were quite good experiences. They were funny. I grew up with my father being ill, so I wasn’t unaccustomed to it.
“I had my first heart attack at four o’clock in the morning twenty-odd years ago, which was one of the funniest moments of my life because I tapped my wife on the shoulder and said, that I could hardly breathe.
“You know? Get me an ambulance. I’m having a heart attack. And she said to me, let’s give it twenty minutes and see how you go.
“She doesn’t like using the phone, my wife. ‘Oh, dear’, she said.
“Now, I can’t dial 999 and I can hardly talk. I’m saying: ‘Why? Why can’t you?’
“‘But it’s only for emergencies.’ I’m like, ‘What? What?!’
“But looking back on it, it was just like, no. No.
“We don’t have that. You know? Look after yourself. She’s very, very single-minded.”
Hearn spoke more about his second heart attack and insisted that he does not live “worrying about anything”.
He added: “The second one was easy, easy peasy. You know? Just went in and they stick a few more stents in and turn you out.
“I’m not gonna spend one second of my life worrying about anything like that because I believe in the almighty. I believe that fate is already there.
“And when it’s my time to go, if it’s tomorrow, I’ll go with grace.
“I hope it’s not for years and years and years and years because I’m enjoying myself too much, but it’s not my decision.
“So therefore, if it’s not my decision and I can’t influence it, I’m not gonna worry about it.”
Subtle signs of a heart attack
A HEART attack is when the supply of the blood to the heart is suddenly blocked.
It is a medical emergency and needs to be treated right away.
Around 100,000 people are admitted to hospital due to heart attacks every year in the UK, according to the British Heart Foundation.
That’s 290 each day, or one every five minutes.
Some symptoms, like chest pain, shortness of breath and feeling lightheaded or dizzy, can be fairly obvious.
But the signs aren’t always so blatant, the NHS warns. Other more subtle symptoms of a heart attack include:
- Pain in other parts of the body (it can feel as if the pain is spreading from your chest to your arms, jaw, neck, back and stomach)
- Sweating
- Feeling sick
- Vomiting
- An overwhelming feeling of anxiety (similar to a panic attack)
- Weakness or fatigue
- Coughing
- Wheezing
A heart attack and cardiac arrest are similar, but not the same.
A cardiac arrest is when the heart stops pumping blood around the body.