How this man’s smartwatch saved his life

By Jake Meeus-Jones via SWNS

This man's smartwatch saved his life when it alerted him to his dangerously low heart rate - after his heart stopped 138 times in 48 hours.

David Last, 54, received a new Apple watch from his wife, Sarah, 50, for his birthday in April.

Straight away, the watch readings showed David had a resting heart rate as low as 30bpm as many as 2,885 times. Resting heart rates for an adult male are usually between 60-100bpm.

David initially thought the watch was faulty and didn't take much notice of the readings - despite Sarah urging him to get checked out.

Eventually, the dad-of-four went to see his doctor who referred him to a cardiologist at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital in the UK where he was booked in for an MRI scan in May.

The MRI results came back two months later and David was referred back to the consultant, who quickly gave him a 48-hour ECG test to monitor his abnormal heart rate.

He realized something was desperately wrong when he had five missed calls from the hospital asking him to come back, as a matter of urgency.

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He was told that he had third-degree heart block and he was at a high risk of sudden cardiac death.

David underwent life-saving surgery to fit a pacemaker in his heart - which keeps his heart beating in rhythm - on August 12 and says he's feeling "relieved" and has "a lot more energy."

David, an IT developer, from Norwich, UK, said: "My wife keeps saying that she saved my life, and she's not wrong.

"If she hadn't bought me my Apple watch for my birthday, I wouldn't be here.

"I will always be eternally grateful to her for it.

"It's always staying on me now.

"It's incredible that it can monitor your heart rate and alert you if there is a problem."

"The junction box in my heart had stopped working and failed to pass on electrical pulses.

"My heart had stopped 138 times in 10-second intervals over a 48-hour period."

David learned that this would happen mainly whilst he was asleep - causing another part of his heart to kickstart the blood flow before the process would repeat.

David and Sarah got married in-between his MRI and ECG tests on the 18th of June, unaware of the seriousness of the issue, with David describing it as 'life as normal.'

"I had no symptoms whatsoever. We even went to Italy for 10 days for our honeymoon - I had no idea anything was wrong. Even the doctors were amazed," he said.

"I'm really active - I walk and use the treadmill at home a lot," he said.

"We've never had any heart problems in the family at all. So I was shocked when I found out."