Ringwood dad Steve Gear 'lucky to be alive' after quadruple heart attack on holiday in Portugal

A FATHER from Ringwood who suffered a quadruple heart attack on holiday in Portugal said he is “lucky to be alive” and back home with his family.

Surgeons in Lisbon gave Steve Gear only 50/50 odds of surviving emergency open-heart surgery after he suffered three minor and one major heart attack in July.

Following the op, Steve (49) had to live at his friend’s house in the Algarve, and pay for private post-op care with the help of online donations until he was well enough to return home last month.

Now the former fabricator/welder will have to wait until next month to see an NHS cardiologist for guidance as to what he should be doing to aid his recovery.

As reported in the A&T, Steve was visiting a friend in the Algarve in July when he suffered four heart attacks in quick succession.

He was airlifted to Lisbon for emergency surgery to have an titanium aorta valve fitted in his heart.

“I remember going into the hospital but that’s the last thing I remember,” Steve said.

“I had gone blind in one eye and I didn’t have any clothing or anything with me – just my phone, which I handed over.

“The next thing I knew I woke up wanting a glass of water.

“I asked a nurse when I was having the operation and she told me I had already had it.

“This nurse pulled my bed covers back and I saw where the surgeon had operated.

“I realised I had been out for two days.”

He went on: “Then I started thinking about my mum and my daughter and how they wouldn’t be able to speak to me or contact me and it was very emotional.

“The surgeon who operated on me said he had only given me a 50/50 chance of making it.

“A lot of that didn’t sink in until about a week later when I was resting.

“I just sat there and started crying, my mind was just going over everything.

“I’m very lucky to be alive today.”

Steve spent almost three months convalescing at his friend’s home.

He said he was “overwhelmed” by the messages of support he received from friends and family as well as online donations for his post-op care.

Last month Steve was given the all clear by cardiologists in Lisbon to return to the UK by car and ferry since flying would put too much pressure on his new artificial valve.

Once again Steve’s friend stepped up to help, driving him slowly over the course of several days from the Algarve to Santander in Spain, where Steve then took a 31-hour ferry trip back to Portsmouth.

Steve returned home to his daughter Skye just 10 days before her 19th birthday and is now resting at home while waiting to see an NHS cardiologist.

“The earliest appointment I was able to get was 8th November,” said Steve.

“I know I’m not supposed to be driving or doing anything physical but that’s it.

“I’m still learning about what happened to me because all my doctor’s notes are in Portuguese.

“I’ve learnt that I went into respiratory failure and kidney failure while I was under for those two days.

“But I haven’t had any advice from a British cardiologist yet.”