Surviving what cardiac emergency doctors call a widow-maker heart attack can sound unimaginable.

One moment you’re fine. The next, there’s a “crushing” pain in your chest.

That’s why doctors say recognizing symptoms quickly can mean the difference between life and death.

In this month’s Eye on Health, we will explain what makes these types of heart attacks so deadly and introduce you to a local man who beat the odds.

Few patients ever get the chance to personally thank their doctor who saved them from an acute cardiac crisis.

Jeff Rea — you know him as a past mayor of Mishawaka and current CEO of the South Bend Chamber of Commerce — survived a type of heart attack that kills half of those who have them.

“I don't even know how to describe it, because, like, my whole life, you know, you get pain from different things. This is really different. And so, I went very quickly from I might have overdone it to something more serious is wrong, but I also was very alert,” said Jeff Rea, Survivor of widow maker heart attack.

Jeff's interventional cardiologist at Beacon Medical Group, Dr. Muhammad Aslam, says his left anterior descending or LAD artery, was 100% blocked.

It’s the main artery that supplies blood to the left ventricle, which then pumps blood to other areas of the heart.

“We have to open up the artery right away, because longer we wait to open the artery, more damaged the heart is going to be,” said Dr. Muhammad Aslam, Beacon Medical Group Advanced Cardiology Specialists.
Dr. Aslam says to always call 911 if you feel like something is “off.”

Ambulances are equipped with EKGs which can give doctors a picture of what’s going on even, before you arrive.

“From the time the patient gets to the ER, from the time the artery is opened should be less than 90 minutes,” said Aslam.

In Rea’s case, he says he was riding his exercise bike moments before his heart attack in March of 2025.

He was 55 at the time, relatively healthy, and stayed on top of his numbers because of his family’s history with heart attacks.

“I thought maybe I'd overdone it, but knew something felt very different than I'd ever felt before. Decided I'd better go get that checked out,” said Rea.
He and his wife went straight to Beacon.

A specialized heart team, known as a STEMI team, was activated to begin reopening the artery.

“They all have to be in the hospital within 30 minutes. If the daytime, we all there. Night time, you have to be in the hospital within 30 minutes. And during that time, patients getting lab done, they're getting blood thinner medications, they're getting aspirin, they're getting pain medication,” said Aslam.

Dr. Aslam says they ballooned Rea’s artery open and had to remove the clot so they could see where to place the stent. They went through his wrist through a minimally invasive procedure.

“Every time the heart pumps, it pumps about 60 to 65% blood out. In this case, his heart, right after the heart attack, was pumping about 35%,” said Aslam.
Although Rea’s artery was back open, his recovery wasn’t over.

He began medications to strengthen his heart and blood thinners to prevent the stent from closing during healing.

He went through cardiac rehabilitation at Memorial Hospital, has new medication to prevent a future heart attack, and gets routine heart scans to assess his heart function.

The whole time, Rea says he was surprised to have had such a serious heart attack but adds he’s lucky because his wife... could’ve become a widow that day.

“I have a bigger, different sense of urgency, probably too. I, you know, I almost wasn't here and so I got a second chance at things,” said Rea.

Women can have widow maker heart attacks, but they’re more common in men.

Read full story here: wsbt.com/life/eye-on-health/surviving-widow-maker-…

_________________
Stay up to date by following our social media:

WSBT 22 on Facebook: www.facebook.com/WSBTNews
WSBT 22 on X: twitter.com/WSBT
WSBT 22 on Instagram: www.instagram.com/wsbt/

For more information, visit wsbt.com/

Have a news tip? Send it directly to our newsroom: wsbtnews@wsbt.com

WSBT is an IN based station and a CBS Television affiliate owned and operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group. Sinclair, Inc. is one of the largest and most diversified television broadcasting companies in the country today. Sinclair owns and operates, programs or provides sales services to 163 television stations in 77 markets, after pending transactions. Sinclair's television group reaches approximately 38.7% of US television households and includes FOX, ABC, MyTV, CW, CBS, NBC, Univision and Azteca affiliates.