A gym lover who fainted during a session with his personal trainer has been diagnosed with a rare and incurable disease.
Andrew Sharrock, 47, was used to doing a lot of high-intensity cardio - but felt dizzy and disorientated during one PT session in July 2020.
Super fit Andrew said he felt his chest tighten before suddenly passing out and waking up on the floor.
Andrew, from Southport, spent the next 11 days in hospital receiving treatment before being told that he had a rare condition called pulmonary hypertension, the Liverpool Echo reports.
Recalling the events, Andrew said: "At the start of last summer, I started getting out of breath going up the stairs to my flat which is on the second floor.
"I was super fit before the first lockdown and I thought maybe a few months of the gyms being closed had made me lose some fitness.
"Once personal training sessions were allowed again in July, I started sessions to build my fitness back up.
"I was in the middle of working out with my trainer and I just felt so dizzy and disorientated. I'd never felt anything like it.
"It was as if someone had clouted me around the head with a chest hammer. Next thing I knew I woke up on the floor."
But after a couple of months of waiting, Andrew, who works at the Walkers crisps factory in Skelmersdale, found out that the referral from Southport Hospital still hadn't been processed.
Andrew contacted his MP, Damien Moore, who chased up the referral on his behalf and a diagnosis at Broadgreen Hospital confirmed Mr Sharrock's condition was severe.
Following another referral to Sheffield Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Andrew was eventually told that he had a rare condition called pulmonary hypertension.
"The doctors looked at my scans and gave me my diagnosis," he said.
"I had never heard of pulmonary hypertension and, because my heart was severely enlarged on the right-hand side, I was told that my case was one in a million.
"They told me my heart was failing. I cried."
For almost two weeks, Andrew was put on a heart catheter and prescribed various medications.
He said he was a "different man" when he came out.
“I noticed the difference as soon as I got home," he told the Echo. "When I walked up the stairs to my flat I didn’t feel the tight chest or breathlessness."
Andrew said he has been out walking most days since and recently walked 23 miles in one day.
"I can't do any high-intensity training anymore," he added. "But I've come to terms with that and I have learned to see my condition as a friend.
"I focus on what I can do, so I go walking and on bike rides. I visit the sand dunes from Southport to Formby.
"I feel really positive for the future and that we’ve got good control of the condition. They put me on a treatment plan and things started looking up."
