"Extremely grateful to the team for their support and guidance"

Suffered a heart attack and cardiac arrest in October 2024. Was referred to cardiac rehabilitation at the Royal Alexandra Hospital.

Felt very shocked initially as I believed I was reasonably healthy with no obvious symptoms of heart disease. Afterwards I felt that I’d been given a second chance and was committed to do as much as possible to get fit and healthy. Felt very lucky to have the opportunity to go through cardiac rehabilitation.

I genuinely believe that cardiac rehabilitation has changed my life and may quite possibly have saved my life. Without it I would not have known what exercise to take and wouldn’t have understood that I could exercise at an appropriate level using the Borg scale. This also gave me a psychological boost as it made me more confident that my heart could get stronger and hopefully recover. Previously I had worried that I might do too much and cause more harm.

The cardiac rehabilitation team were fantastic. It was very reassuring to have their expertise on hand and they were all extremely supportive and kind. The other patients were great and we developed good camaraderie.

With the team’s support, I embarked on the Couch to 5K programme. I would never have thought that was possible but I am in my last week and although I still don’t enjoy running I can do it for 30 minutes and feel a great sense of achievement afterwards.

Cardiac rehabilitation has been a very positive experience and I am extremely grateful to the team for their support and guidance.