Apple Watch praised for saving UK man's life after wild 48 hours when heart
stopped 138 times
Apple Watch is at the center of another life-saving experience.
In an incredible story, a UK man credited Apple's wearable and heart rate
features for detecting a symptomless health issue that made his heart stop
138 times in just 48 hours.
Reported by The Independent via Apple Insider, David Last from Norfolk in
the UK was gifted an Apple Watch for his birthday earlier this year by his
wife Sarah.
When Last, age 54 started using the device, Apple Watch started giving him
abnormally low heart rate warnings. Measurements as low as 30 beats per
minute were recorded almost 3,000 different times.
Last figured his Apple Watch was defective, but his wife pushed him to see
his doctor.
After first having an MRI in May and getting the results back in July, Last
then had a 48-hour ECG test to get to the bottom of the abnormal heart rate.
The hospital called back five times trying to reach Last with the ECG
results before he was able to respond - and realized how urgent it was.
What made his heart stop 138 times?
It turns out he had a symptomless and life-threatening third-degree heart
block. During that 48-hour ECG, his "heart had stopped 138 times in
10-second intervals."
Doctors were able to place a life-saving pacemaker into his heart in August.
Very fortunately, Apple Watch brought this to the surface with the low heart
rate
notifications when Last wasn't experiencing any "symptoms whatsoever."
Apple Watch is "always staying on me"
Here's what Last shared about the experience:
"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.
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."
In a wonderful ending to this story, "Last has since returned to work and
attributes his wife to his recovery."
Apple Watch uncovers deadly hidden tumor, saves Maine woman's life
Apple Watch has a number of invaluable health features that have proven to
save lives over the years.
Now the most recent example is a powerful story about how Apple Watch's
heart health features can uncover hidden health issues that could prove
deadly if gone undetected.
Reported by CBS News, a Maine woman who at one point thought her Apple Watch
was malfunctioning now "swears by it."
Apple Watch heart notifications
In May, Kim Durkee saw warnings from her Apple Watch two nights in a row
warning her that her heart was experiencing atrial fibrillation.
At first, she thought the wearable was giving misreadings but then she got
another warning.
"The third night the numbers went a little too high for comfort," Kim said.
"Then I said you know what, go to the emergency room if they tell you it's
nothing to worry about then toss the watch."
What Apple Watch uncovered
As it turns out, it was indeed atrial fibrillation and the cause was an
unknown, aggressive tumor.
"Doctors in Maine soon confirmed that her heart was beating erratically for
a simple and scary reason. She had a myxoma, a rare, fast-growing tumor that
was choking off her heart's blood supply and would have eventually caused a
stroke."
Because of the Apple Watch warnings, doctors were able to get her to
Massachusetts General Hospital where they removed the deadly tumor during a
five-hour open heart surgery.
Very notably, Durkee had no symptoms other than the atrial fibrillation that
her Apple Watch caught. The four-centimeter and quickly growing tumor was
expected to have "almost certainly" killed her had it not been found.
Durkee is recovering at home and says that Apple Watch "truly saved my
life." CBS News notes she's "been contacted by many who have bought Apple
Watches after hearing her story."
Apple Watch saves man's life after he fainted and hit his head on the floor
From time to time we hear about people who have had their lives saved thanks
to the Apple Watch, and recently this happened to Dan Pfau after he fainted
and hit his head hard on the floor.
The story comes from the Boston Globe, which talked to Pfau after the
accident. At the age of 70, this is not the first time the retired
administrative consultant has been saved thanks to his Apple Watch.
Two years ago, Pfau was rescued from a bicycle accident after his Apple
Watch called 911. He mentions that at the time he woke up in an ambulance
without remembering how he had gotten there. "Pfau doesn't even recall
phoning 911, because he didn't. The watch did," says the report in reference
to the fall detection feature introduced with Apple Watch Series 4 in 2018.
This time, however, the incident faced by Pfau was "even scarier." Due to
his history of sudden fainting spells, he ended up hitting his head on the
hardwood floor and started bleeding significantly. As he felt pain and was
unable to move, he quickly used the dictation feature on Apple Watch to call
his wife, who was luckily home at the time.
" His Apple Watch didn't dial 911 this time, because Pfau, still conscious,
tapped an icon on the watch screen to indicate he was OK. "I assumed it was
not that serious, which is my natural reaction," he said. But when he
realized that he wasn't OK after all, Pfau launched the watch's texting app,
tapped the microphone icon, and dictated a message to his wife, who was
downstairs".
Although the situation was quite serious, Pfau was once again quickly taken
to a hospital because he was wearing an Apple Watch.
" It took nine stitches to close the cut on Pfau's forehead, but the pain
in his neck sentenced him to four days in intensive care - it was a
fractured vertebrae.
"The doctors said I was extremely lucky not to have paralysis," he said.
Pfau wound up at Mass. General after another helicopter ride. "My wife
cracked that I was trying to rack up helicopter frequent flyer miles," he
said".
Boston Globe also spoke with Brad Weiner, one of the doctors who attended
Pfau in the hospital. The doctor confirmed that this is not the first time
one of his patients has been saved thanks to a smart watch, mentioning
another recent case in which the Apple Watch correctly notified a patient to
atrial fibrillation detected by the ECG app.
Earlier this month, another man reported that he was also able to call for
help after a car accident using Siri on the Apple Watch. Stories like this
have become increasingly common since the introduction of Apple's smart
watch in 2015.
9to5Mac.
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