Dad’s relief after heart surgery amidst Covid-19 crisis – The Northern Echo

A FATHER has spoken of his admiration of medics who got him feeling 'champion' within days of emergency surgery for a life-threatening heart condition, in the midst of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

When Alan Brown suffered chest pain his family immediately sought medical help.

The 55-year-old needed major heart surgery the same night but was home four days later thanks to his rapid diagnosis and treatment.

Mr Brown, who works in construction but is currently on furlough, was food shopping when he first noticed something was not right.

He said: I was walking around the supermarket and I just felt a pain between my shoulder blade and my chest."

As soon as he got home, daughter Sophie, 26, took one look at him and knew he was poorly.

She said: He did not look well at all, he looked grey. I called 999 and they were fantastic, they got here so fast.

Mr Brown, of Bishop Auckland, was taken by ambulance to the accident and emergency department at Darlington Memorial Hospital where he had a CT scan which revealed he needed immediate specialist attention.

We got him over here the moment we saw it, said Professor Andrew Owens, consultant cardiac surgeon at The James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough.

Mr Brown had a tear in the inner lining of his aorta the main blood vessel coming out of the heart, which is also known as aortic dissection and could have been life threatening.

Mr Owens said: He presented to hospital that afternoon, we had him in our theatre that evening and operated on him most of the night.

The surgery was a huge success and he was discharged home just four days later.

Mr Owens said: I am delighted that he came to hospital so soon after he got his chest pain.

"The rapid diagnosis made at Darlington and subsequent transfer here undoubtedly improved his outcome.

We have the facilities and fantastic teams here that enable us to undertake this sort of specialist surgery on any patient, day or night, so were able to rapidly get him to the operating theatre and undertake his surgery.

His otherwise good health and rapid treatment has enabled him to make a spectacular recovery from this event and such major surgery.

Mr Brown said he now feels champion and considers himself to be really lucky.

He said: Going into hospital I was worried because of everything thats going on.

"But the nurses put my mind at ease. They said not to worry about anything as I would be on the non-Covid unit. Everybody was lovely.

His wife Paula said: Under the current situation we could not go with him to hospital.

"Even though we were not there, everything was communicated to us by telephone. The staff were all amazing.

Health and social services have urged patients not to delay seeking urgent medical advice because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mr Owens said: We are really worried that patients with heart disease, strokes and other conditions are not seeking help as rapidly as they would have in the past.

There has been a worrying reduction in the number of patients coming in with these conditions where timely intervention is critical to getting a good outcome.

It is really important that people dont feel reluctant to seek medical help, be it 111, 999 or A&E, if they are unwell.

Whilst social distancing is still very important, it is also important that when checking in with friends or family who have underlying conditions we encourage them to seek help if their symptoms are worsening.

The hospital will of course feel very different due to Covid precautions, but it is these precautions that enable us to treat all patients safely.

Go here to see the original:
Dad's relief after heart surgery amidst Covid-19 crisis - The Northern Echo