LITCHFIELD PARK, AZ (AZFamily) — Michelle and Jeff Goss were in their living room last September, getting ready to go an Arizona Cardinals game. The season ticket holders had no idea they would be watching it from a hospital room.
“So at first I just felt nauseous,” Jeff recently told Arizona’s Family. “And it didn’t feel like much at all. I really didn’t think it was anything serious. I really didn’t.”
It turns out the then 53-year-old was having a widowmaker heart attack.
“His color had turned gray, and he was sweating profusely, and he was doing that coughing, dry heaving,” Michelle said, recounting the experience. “And all of the sudden he said, ‘My chest hurts.‘”
Initially the symptoms were subtle, and Jeff kept insisting he was fine. In the video you can see at first, Michelle called her friend who lives nearby. She teaches CPR and works for a heart association, so Michelle knew she would be helpful. Eventually Michelle called 911. About an hour after the paramedics arrived, Jeff was in surgery.
“I really lost control of my body,” he said. “My arms were shaking. It just got really bad.”
The entire ordeal was captured on the couple’s home surveillance camera. Now Michelle is now sharing it on TikTok as a way to raise awareness about the reality of a heart attack.
“I was watching a TV show, and the main character’s father had a heart attack,” she said. “And I was like, that’s not what ours looked like.”
The three TikToks have garnered nearly 10 million views so far.
“In movies and TV shows where you see someone has a sudden heart attack, has chest pain and drops and passes out and dies, that’s very uncommon that that happens,” Dr. William Jaffe said.
Dr. Jaffe is not Jeff’s doctor, but he’s a cardiologist with Abrazo Health. He said usually there are symptoms before a heart attack that will get worse over time.
“If someone has chest pain or shortness of breath and ignores it, over time that’s where you can have some potential problems,” he said.
He said it’s important to know your genetic risk.
“If you have a family history of heart disease, a first degree relative with a male under 55 or a female under 65 years of age, that puts you at higher risk,” Dr. Jaffe said.
If you’re in severe pain, Dr. Jaffe said to call 911. Listen to your body, he added, and get checked out by a doctor if you have any kind of chest pain.
Michelle has gotten dozens of comments and messages from all over the country.
“One lady messaged me and said … she saw our videos, and a month later her husband started to have a heart attack,” Michelle said. “She knew instantly.”
“She says she probably wouldn’t have called otherwise,” Jeff added.
Thankfully Jeff is now feeling great after three months of cardiac rehab. The couple, who has been married for 37 years, recently took a vacation together.
“We met when you were 14, been together ever since,” Michelle said. “Born and raised here. Same high school.”
The couple also stays busy with their four kids and six grandkids.
“We have so many birthdays, anniversaries. We usually do like a month,” Michelle said.
As cliché as it sounds, life is short. And while they’ve always lived at full tilt, they’re certainly living life to its fullest now.
“We’ve been together for 40 years, so I just cannot imagine,” Michelle said, thinking about life without Jeff.
Jeff did get stints put into his heart. He found out it was only functioning at 35%, and he had no idea. He said he did have a brother who had a heart attack at a young age, which is why it’s so important to know family history.
Dr. Jaffe also said prevention is key. Diabetes, high-blood pressure, smoking and obesity can all cause the pipes around the artery to be blocked, he added.
Here is more information from Abrazo about preventing cardiac arrest.
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