Prof thanks the same hospital team that saved his and his wife’s lives four years apart

A professor has thanked the same cardiology department at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals for saving his life and his wife’s in less than five years.

Professor Edward Winter, 69, who lives in Dore, is an Emeritus Professor of the Physiology of Exercise at Sheffield Hallam University and has worked with numerous athletes, including runners, racketsports players and footballers.

In March this year he began suffering with chest pains and was referred by his GP to see consultant cardiologist, Dr Rachel Orme at the Northern General Hospital.

Dr Orme arranged for Prof Winter to undergo a coronary CT scan and an echocardiogram, which is an ultrasound scan of the heart.

“Dr Orme informed me that one of my coronary arteries was seriously narrowed and that she was booking me in to have a procedure to have a stent inserted. She then asked me how I was feeling and when I replied that I had had chest pain a day or so before and had called the paramedics, she promptly said, Edward, I am admitting you for the procedure now. My stent was inserted the next day.

“Remarkably within 48 hours of being literally, a hair’s-width from catastrophe, I had been admitted, treated, discharged and was on a 20-minute walk to my local newsagents to buy our weekly lottery tickets. Those tickets were not winners, but I had just won the lottery of life.” Edward wrote to Kirsten Major, Chief Executive of the Trust, to express his appreciation for the way his life was saved. Just four years earlier, he had written a very similar letter in appreciation of the same team for saving the life of his wife, Anne. In May 2015, Anne suffered a heart attack whilst the couple were gardening. On arrival at the Coronary Care Unit at Northern General Hospital an angiogram showed there was a serious narrowing of one of her coronary arteries, and immediately had a stent fitted.

Seventy two hours after her hear attack, the couple were attending a Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace the next day.

“Anne and I greatly appreciate what has been done by this department at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals.

“We both have received excellent, life-saving care from the consultants, the attentive nursing staff, and the whole team in coronary care.”