A Filipino cyclist says his brush with death after a serious heart condition went undiagnosed should encourage others to check their cardiovascular health.
Godfrey Abello, 44, was walking to work at Wolfi’s bike shop in Dubai when he felt a sharp pain in his chest and arm. A recent check-up had told him his cholesterol was high, but he had otherwise been given a clean bill of health and so believed he was suffering from indigestion.
The pain passed, but the next day, Mr Abello was working on a customer’s bike when the same sharp, stabbing sensation returned. This time he went to Medcare Hospital in Al Safa, where he was diagnosed with an NSTEMI (non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction), a type of heart attack that occurs when blood flow to a section of heart muscle is reduced, usually due to a blockage in a coronary artery.
But while still in the emergency room, he suddenly became unresponsive and experienced ventricular fibrillation, a life-threatening heart rhythm that prevents the heart from pumping blood effectively.
The medical team immediately initiated CPR and administered two defibrillator shocks to restart his heart. He was then rushed into surgery, where specialists urgently opened the blocked coronary artery and inserted a stent, or a small balloon, to restore a consistent blood supply to his heart.
'I should not have delayed'
Eight months on, Mr Abello has shared his experience to mark World Heart Day on Tuesday.
“Now that I have had time to reflect, I recognise I should have sought emergency care immediately when the pain first started, rather than trying to wait through it,” he said. “Aside from my cholesterol, I was fit and regularly exercising and didn’t have any other health issues.
“I was cycling every day, sometimes more than 100km on the weekends, but I had recently sold my bike and gained around 10kg. My routine had changed to waking up, working, then going home again to eat, so this may have contributed to the problem.”
Mr Abello is now back at the bike workshop and has made some tweaks to improve his lifestyle.
“I have had to change my routine,” said Mr Abello, who lives alone in Barsha and has two children back home in the Philippines. “After I work, I eat, and then after I eat, I rest. At around 6pm I go outside to walk for an hour to keep my heart working. It has made me realise how vulnerable we are in daily life, you just don't know. Tomorrow is never promised.”
A UAE problem
Cardiovascular disease remains the world’s primary cause of death and contributes to 40 per cent of all UAE fatalities. Due to the high frequency in the region, acute cardiac events have been closely monitored to better understand their causes and to improve public health awareness.
That link became clear in the 2010 Gulf Race (Registry of Acute Coronary Events) study that revealed nearly one in three patients with severe heart attacks in the Middle East reached hospital more than 12 hours after their symptoms began.
The research examined 3,197 patients across 65 centres in six Arab countries and found that 929 patients, around 30 per cent, reached hospital after the critical 12-hour window. Doctors said patient education and knowledge of signs and symptoms had improved, but work still needs to be done.
Dr Jan Niclas Strickling, a specialist interventional cardiologist at Medcare Al Safa, warned that heart attack symptoms can be mild or confusing, and sometimes initial tests do not flag them as urgent.
“Heart attack symptoms, particularly in the early stages, can be subtle and are very often mistaken for indigestion or reflux,” he said. Dr Strickling said young people in their 30s and 40s today were showing the same level of artery damage that doctors used to see only in patients over 70.
“Godfrey’s case is a classic example and an important reminder that heart attack symptoms can closely mimic common digestive complaints, and that timely evaluation can be the difference between life and death,” he said. “The warning signs may come before the crisis, but too many people dismiss them, delay seeking care, and lose the opportunity for timely intervention.”
At Aster Hospital in Mankhool, more than 10,000 procedures have been performed at its cardiac catheterisation lab since 2018. These include coronary angiography and angioplasty, emergency STEMI interventions, thrombectomy, atherectomy, pacemaker implants and other complex cardiac and vascular procedures.
Younger patients
More than 35 per cent of those patients were under the age of 50, with around 20 per cent aged 31 to 40.
Further analysis of more than 3,500 patients showed more than 90 per cent were from South Asia, with Indian nationals, who make up about 35 per cent of the population, accounting for more than 65 per cent of the patients, followed by Pakistani and Filipino nationals.
Dr Naveed Ahmed, head of cardiac services at Aster Hospitals & Clinics, said more risk factors are associated with the residents in the UAE.
“In our hospital, we see more of an expat population, people from India, Pakistan, Bangladeshs and Sri Lanka. Multiple studies which have shown South-East Asian people have an inherent risk of heart attacks at an early age compared to the Western population.
“This is because of the kind of lifestyle they lead – they are more into convenient junk foods, they are heavy smokers and mostly they live alone. In the West, it is still the disease of people in their 50s and 60s, but here we see it in their 30s.
“Blockages can start quite early, maybe in the early teens, and then slowly progress until it develops in a significant way. If someone in this group has multiple risk factors, they should see their doctor for a check-up.”
