'My holiday indigestion turned out to be a heart attack... now I wake up every day in fear'
11.06.2023 - 07:43
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
It's been over three years since Tina Murphy suffered a catastrophic heart attack whilst on holiday in Marrakesh - but she still wakes up every day in fear.
The mum and grandmother, from Burnage, had been away with her partner John when she started getting chest and arm pains. At first, she dismissed it as indigestion.
But as the day went on, Tina realised the pain wasn't going away. Concerned it was something more serious, John asked for help at the hotel reception, and a doctor was sent.
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Under his instruction, she was rushed to hospital immediately, where she remained for a week for treatment, which included an operation and having stents fitted.
And the language barrier with Moroccan doctors meant they even had to rely on Google Translate on their phones to try and explain what was going on.
Tina, now 58, has fully recovered from the heart attack. But the trauma of her ordeal has had a lasting effect, and she still fears that it could happen to her again.
"I have had a fear over the last few years thinking, 'could today be the day when I won't be as lucky,'" she said. "It has been very difficult to deal with."
Tina and John had been having breakfast at their hotel in the Moroccan city in December 2019 when she started noticing the pains.
"It just felt like bad indigestion. I had an ache in the arm," she said. "I had some Gaviscon and mint tea, thinking I was blocked up or it was heartburn.
"The pain then stopped for an hour or so and we had a game of shuffleboard. But it kept coming back and it would come back more intense.
"It wasn't until the late afternoon that the pain got worse, it was getting tighter and then the chest pain