A dad whose heart stopped more than 100 times in 48 hours says he owes his life to his Apple Watch he received as a gift from his wife.
David Last, 54, received the gadget in April and it immediately showed his resting heart rate was as low as 30bpm - drastically less than the usual number in adult men of 60 -100bpm.
He initially dismissed the device as being faulty but visited the doctor on advice from his wife Sarah.
He was referred to a cardiologist at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, where he was booked in for an MRI scan in May.
When the results came back and the dad of four realised there was a serious issue when he had five missed calls from doctors who had found he was at risk of sudden cardiac death.
David 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. Apart from charging it, it's always staying on me now.
"It's incredible it can monitor your heart rate and alert you if there is a problem.
“The hospital sounded really panicky on the phone, as soon as I got there, they had a bed ready immediately. I got the watch in April so if I hadn't done anything it could have been really bad.
"The pre-surgery consultation explained that my case was unusual, and they had extensive meetings about what they were going to do. They explained that I had something called 'heart block'.
"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 learnt 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.
Life had continued as normal for the couple between the test and results returning, as they married in June with no idea of the impending issue.
Last month David had a pacemaker fitted to solve the problem.
His newly-fitted device will now sense any abnormal rhythms and help both heart ventricles pump blood in sync. But because of the electrical activity, David can now no longer use the induction hob in his kitchen.
An active man, David said he and his family have never had any history of heart complications.
He added: “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. I'm really active - I walk and use the treadmill at home a lot.
"We've never had any heart problems in the family at all. So I was quite shocked when I found out. It hasn't really sunk in yet.
"Sarah really looked after me. She keeps saying how proud of herself she is - and she should be.
"She saved my life."
