Gym-goer's heart shock 'I'M TOO FIT TO DIE!'

Thinking she had indigestion, Maggie carried on with her day, not realising she was in dire danger

- Fleur Guthrie

Lying in an ambulance on her way to Auckland Hospital, Maggie Hunt quipped to the paramedics that she felt like such a fraud.

After having intense pain in her sternum for more than an hour, the then-60-year-old was sure it was just about of indigestion, but the urgent care doctor insisted on a trip to hospital for further investigations.

The next morning, after emergency heart surgery, Maggie was told she was lucky to be alive.

Sharing her experience to raise awareness of heart health and the danger signs to look for, Maggie reveals it was nothing like what heart attacks on TV might have you expect - no clutching of the chest or gasping for breath.

“I was at the supermarket on a Friday morning when I felt the first pain,” she recalls. “It felt as though I had a golf ball stuck at the top of my stomach.

I had grabbed a piece of toast earlier and scoffed it down quickly, and simply thought, "Well, you must have eaten that too fast! She drove home, took some indigestion tablets and tried to lie down, yet the medication had no effect. Feeling clammy and with a "tingly” left arm, her pain kept coming in powerful waves.

"It raced through my mind, I wonder if I'm having a heart attack?" tells Maggie, who runs her own marketing company and had been a regular gym-goer and walker.