Marion man who waited to get heart attack help urges others not to wait to seek care
A Marion man is speaking out about fear of COVID-19 preventing people from seeking emergency care after he waited three days to get help during a heart attack.
On May 1, David Willard of Marion took advantage of the nice weather to power wash his house.
“I worked pretty hard all day. As I went through the evening, I noticed some discomfort in the upper part of my chest, but it didn’t seem to be in the right place to be my heart,” Willard said, adding that he felt discomfort with little pockets of ache.
Willard suspected he had done too much work or had pulled a muscle. He went to bed and had a very restless night. He got up a little early. His “pockets of ache” seemed to float around and change locations.
“My pain was not off the charts, but it certainly was noticeable. I got in bed and again was a little restless,” he said.
Willard considered seeking medical help, but on a weekend, that meant a trip to the hospital emergency room. Two things prevented him from seeking emergency care. He was afraid of catching COVID-19, and the visitation rules in place at the hospital meant his wife couldn’t accompany him.
On Monday morning, his pain was increasing.
“I got to the point I thought I better call my physician, Dr. Salem,” Willard said. Dr. Salem told him it was better to be safe than sorry, and told him to go to the emergency room.
During the 35-minute drive to the hospital from the Willard home south of Marion, Willard began having a lot of trouble breathing. He got pretty scared, he said. He got to SIH Memorial Hospital of Carbondale and said goodbye to his wife. The hospital is not allowing visitors due to the pandemic.
He said not having his wife with him was traumatic. He left his phone at home, so he couldn’t easily contact her. He also had trouble catching everything they told him at the hospital.
Willard learned he was having a STEMI heart attack. A STEMI, or S-T elevation myocardial infarction, is a heart attack caused by a complete blockage of one of the arteries of the heart, which causes blood flow to a portion of the heart to be blocked.
At the hospital, Dr. Gangadhar Malasana and the team in the cardiac cath lab cleared the blockage in Willard’s artery. He was discharged from the hospital Thursday afternoon.
“I was powerfully blessed by the youngsters who were taking care of me. I was really impressed by their efforts,” Willard said.
His heart sustained some damage from the heart attack. He will undergo further testing on his heart in coming weeks.
“The truth of the matter is it’s by God’s grace and his grace alone I made the decision to seek some help or I would not be here,” Willard said.