A YOUNG PAISLEY mum has opened up on suffering from a shock heart attack.
Lee Anne Porteous was walking her dog during lockdown before she began to feel severe pains in her chest.
An ambulance was called for the 37-year-old and when paramedics completed an ECG, they diagnosed a heart attack.
Lee Anne was sent to the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank where a stent was fitted to open a blocked artery.
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She said: “I started to get a pain in my jaw but at first put it down to toothache. I went to bed but woke up in the middle of the night, feeling clammy, nauseous and I had pains down my left arm and chest.
“At this stage, I still didn’t really understand what was happening. Looking back now, even when I was clearly experiencing symptoms, it simply didn’t cross my mind that it was a heart attack because I didn’t think they could happen in someone so young and I thought I was fit and healthy.”
She is now backing new technology that could save thousands of lives by preventing heart attacks.
The project led by researchers in Scotland aims to identify patients at risk of heart disease before symptoms are developed.
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Lee Anne added: “I just couldn’t believe it.
“Looking back now, even when I was clearly experiencing symptoms, it simply didn’t cross my mind that it was a heart attack because I didn’t think they could happen in someone so young and I thought I was fit and healthy.
“I feel so lucky to be here to celebrate Christmas with my husband and my daughter because I know others are not so fortunate.
"That is why research is important. I had to have a stent fitted because of a blocked artery. That procedure came about because of advances in research and so anything new that can be done to reduce the number of people dying from a heart attack has to be welcomed.”
Researchers have been given £545,000 from the British Heart Foundation (BHF) to create and test a computer “algorithm” - capable of detecting undiagnosed coronary heart disease in CT scans.
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CTs are used to identify a range of diseases unrelated to the heart, however signs of hardening of the arteries are often identified on these scans.
Scientists will develop an automated way of finding and measuring these signs and by linking them with other risk factors of heart disease. This would enable doctors to potentially treat patients before they have a heart attack.
Project leader, Dr Michelle Williams, said: “There are over 10,000 hospital admissions for heart attacks each year in Scotland alone and while survival rates have significantly improved over the years, it is vital we try to find new ways to stop them from happening in the first place.
“There is much work to be done to develop and test such an algorithm, but ultimately we would hope it could be used to spot the signs of coronary artery disease in clinical practice and identify patients who may otherwise be missed.”
To find out more about the work of the BHF and how you can support life-saving research visit HERE.
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