Aylesbury Vale woman's fitness fundraiser after husband's shock heart attack at 36

Gemma Bentley Major, aged 35, called 999 after her husband, Gary, was taken ill at home in the evening of March 7.

Beautician Gemma said: “It came out of the blue. He went to stand up and came over very funny and quite light-headed, with a bit of pain in his chest.”

Gary lay down, while Gemma went to see to their three sons, before checking up on him half an hour later.

“That’s when I quickly realised there was something more to it, as he was clutching his arm and going grey.” she said.

“It was very, very scary.”

After a two-and-a-half hour wait and three phone calls, an ambulance finally arrived.

“It felt like it was for ever,” said Gemma.

Gary was taken to Milton Keynes Hospital, but Gemma was not allowed to go with him or to follow him, due to Covid restrictions.

“And unfortunately I tested positive the next day with Covid, so I was unable to see him at all,” she said.

After five days in hospital, Gary was sent home with medication.

Gemma said: “The first couple of weeks have been rough. I don’t know what to expect from a heart attack of somebody of such a young age.

“We kind of thought maybe he’ll kind of bounce back, but it’s taken a lot longer than we ever anticipated.”

Gary, a self-employed plumbing and heating engineer, has been unable to work since the attack and now faces a nine-week wait for an MRI scan.

"Once he’s had the scan, we’ll hopefully be able to know the plan forward,” said Gemma. “Because we still don’t know fully what caused the heart attack.”

Gary is gradually regaining his strength, but progress is slow.

“Things that we take for granted, like going for a short walk or putting the washing out, have been a struggle at times,” said Gemma.

Now Gemma is training to take part in a Charity Day at Buckingham gym The Energy Effect in aid of the British Heart Foundation and Buckingham-based Autism Early Support.

She said: “I thought, Gary can’t physically do anything to help with the fundraising on the day, but I’m going to train hard and complete seven and a half hours straight to raise money.”

"It’s all unanswered questions, but in the meantime this is a focus for us as a family to be able to raise money and awareness.

“Still not to have the answers of why – a 36-year-old man which doesn’t have any other health conditions, is not necessarily overweight or has a bad diet.

“There must be a reason why this has happened. We’ve still got a lot of unanswered questions.

"You just get up each day and just see what it brings and just try and keep smiling.”

To donate to the charity fundraiser in aid of the British Heart Foundation and Autism Early Support, click here.