The farmer had no prior symptoms but lived to tell the tale
Robert Nevin with his wife Lorna, sons Jack and Peter and dog Callie(Image: )
A Northern Ireland farmer who had a heart attack – and lived to tell the tale – has opened up on his ordeal in the hope of helping others.
Robert Nevin from Portrush suffered a heart attack in late February 2024 with no prior symptoms. Having survived, the 60-year-old has now shared his story in a bid to help other people, especially those in farming, who could be in the same position as him.
Robert woke in the middle of the night with what he thought was indigestion, got up early the next day and worked for five hours on his farm, before driving himself to hospital.
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Following tests, he was told he was having a heart attack. A heart attack is caused by fatty plaque building up inside the coronary arteries leading to a blockage of blood flow, which is a medical emergency.
Robert had a stent fitted and has since made a very good recovery but says it was a worrying time: “There was no significant history of heart health issues in my family. I’ve always been fairly fit and healthy – I don’t smoke or drink, and as a farmer I’m generally out working seven days a week in all weather.
“My heart attack happened in February 2024 when I was 59, without any prior symptoms. I’d never experienced chest pain and I had indigestion probably twice a year, so in the hours leading up to my attack that’s what I thought was happening.
“I’d bought some chocolate that evening and I couldn’t stop eating it. When I woke up at 3am with chest pains I thought I had indigestion. As my wife Lorna is a nurse, she asked me lots of questions, did I need to go to hospital, but classic me, I played it down.
“I took some Gaviscon and eventually managed to doze off again. It seemed to be more than indigestion and I really struggled to get comfortable but in farming there’s no such thing as illness really. There’s tomorrow, and unless you’ve severed a limb you get up to feed the cows!
“I woke up at 7am. The pain was now a 7 out of 10. It was a constant pain, but like someone hitting me in the chest with their fist. But I just got on with it. I had breakfast and drove to our home farm six miles away and worked for the next five hours – feeding calves and cows, there’s no sitting down in this job.
“I went home for lunch and Lorna was there working from home. She saw the state of me and said she was taking me to hospital, but I insisted on driving myself. Classic farming mentality, I didn’t want to bother anyone else.”
Robert went to the Causeway Hospital in Coleraine, where tests showed he was having a heart attack and was blue-lighted via ambulance to Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry.
Robert said: “It was a real shock. I’d never been in hospital all my life and then suddenly there I was considering my own mortality – it was hard to process.”
He had a stent fitted and was put on medication. A number of weeks after leaving hospital, he began a 12 week cardiac rehab programme.
Robert said: “I did feel quite vulnerable, thinking about what could have happened, but they provided me with so much reassurance and said I could build myself up again.”
He has recovered well and attributes getting out for daily walks with his dog to having helped both his physical and mental health recovery.
While Robert’s daily farming routine has had to be adjusted, he says he continues to still be involved in farming: “Having sold the milking herd of cows, my daily life is somewhat different. We have a holiday home business and a yard we let out for horses, but my mindset about work has really changed.
“I’d already got to the point where I was thinking about the future but this experience highlighted that. I thought there has to be more to life. I’ve buried both my parents and my brother and I want to be around for my boys. I’m still farming but on my own terms now.”
Robert is one of dozens of people who have bravely shared their story on camera as part of a new national campaign by British Heart Foundation (BHF).
To mark 65 years since BHF began, the charity is unveiling 65 red benches across the UK in tribute to those living with cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks.
Behind every bench is a powerful real-life story of someone living with a cardiovascular condition – and thanks to research, they can survive to enjoy life with their loved ones. An iconic British Heart Foundation red bench is to be unveiled along the Causeway Coast to recognise Robert.
He said: “I’m delighted that my bench will be placed locally as I’m a proud North Coast man, so it was important to me that the bench is there for the community to use.
“Having a bench in my name means a lot to me as it’s a reminder of how precious life is and how grateful I am for the care I’ve received to give me a second chance at life as well as the importance of the research work that BHF does.”
Every three minutes, someone in the UK dies from cardiovascular disease, with the condition affecting more than 230,000 people in Northern Ireland. However, a new survey commissioned by BHF of 2,000 adults in the UK living with cardiovascular disease has found that they can face judgement and embarrassment.
According to the survey, 55% said they have felt judged or embarrassed about their condition – with 36% of those saying they have encountered instances where people think it is self-inflicted.
Robert added: “This experience has taught me how important it is for everyone to look after their heart health and take it seriously. I was fit and healthy all my life and many people, including myself, struggled to understand how this happened to me.
“Particularly in the field of farming, which can be a very stressful and isolating line of work, farmers might have more of a tendency to ignore symptoms as I did and to a certain extent believe they are invincible. I’m just so thankful to have recovered and been given another chance at life and I want to use this opportunity to support the work the British Heart Foundation is doing to raise awareness of the impact of heart disease.”
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