When Maggie Watson had a heart attack last month, her first thought was, “why me?” The Banchory mum is a long way from the traditional idea of a coronary victim. For a start, she’s only 49. And she’s fit and healthy — she walks up local landmark Scolty Hill at least three times a week.
Even when the doctors told her she’d suffered a spontaneous coronary artery dissection, or SCAD, she didn’t understand. She’d never heard of the term. But it turns out Maggie WAS the perfect model for a heart attack, one in SCAD form at least.
Because the little-known condition, which is as likely to affect healthy people as non-healthy, is a leading cause of heart attacks for women under 50. It also cannot be predicted and so far there is no way to prevent one happening. “It was scary,” Maggie says.
“My husband is slightly overweight, and I said to him, why is it me? I thought I would be the healthier one.” A tea-time WHAM in the chest out of nowhere Maggie was introduced to SCAD, like nearly all its victims, out of the blue. It was May 5 and she’d just finished her tea.
She went through to the living room to sit with her father-in-law’s dog she was looking after when, WHAM!, she felt a large, compressed pain in the middle of her chest. She lent forward to try to relieve it. That didn’t work, so she went into the kitchen where her children were still eating.
That didn’t help either, though for different reasons. “I said, I’m not feeling right,” Maggie reca.
