A former Co Tyrone GAA player and popular musician has spoken about his battle to recover from a massive heart attack which gave him just a 6% chance of survival.
Mickey Coleman, from Ardboe but now living in New York, suffered the widow-maker heart attack on March 29 shortly after returning home from a run.
After being rushed to hospital Mickey spent three days in a coma before waking to begin his recovery, which he told MyTyrone he is making slow progress on.
Mickey said" “It wasn’t easy and it’s still not that easy I can assure you. When I woke up I realised very quickly that I had the fight of my life on my hands.
“I had two options, either curl up in a ball and die, which was very real, or fight and I wanted to fight.
“It was definitely not easy, my kidneys were failing, my liver function wasn’t good, I had pneumonia.
“When your heart stops, everything stops. Even though I was awake I still had a big, big fight on my hands.
“I remember I was so weak I couldn’t even scratch my head, that’s how weak I was.”
Mickey added the day had began just like any other as he headed to work in the city, unaware of the life-changing circumstances which would befall him later that evening.
After returning home from an evening run and finishing a sandwich, that’s when Mickey took a turn for the worst.
He said: “I left the office that day about 4.30pm, and I remember leaving it very vaguely. I don’t remember the drive home.
“I don’t remember any part of the run, but I do remember coming into the house from the run but I can’t remember any particular aspect of the run itself.
“I just got a merciful pain, deep in the middle of my chest and realised fairly quickly that it wasn’t something I had ever experienced before.
“I could feel myself getting hazy, as if I was ready to faint. I managed to make my way up the stairs to Erin and said I think I’m having a heart attack.
“I made my way back down the stairs into the living room and the last thing I remember was two police officers coming into the house and me just saying can somebody help me?
“I can remember just going out on my last breaths, and next thing I woke up three days later.”
Now almost five months later, Mickey is making progress and has made major changes to his lifestyle, particularly when it comes to his diet.
He said: “It’s really something that you need to take charge of yourself, and my response to all of that was my diet.
“I turned vegan, I went full plant-based. I started to exercise smarter and better. And paving out the way forward in terms of my nutrition, well-being, stress levels, my emotional intelligence.
“I’m very strict on my diet these days. I do a vegan diet and I believe that’s paying dividends for me with how good I feel from doing that.”
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