Randy Couture survived a heart attack, but he admits that had he not acted as quickly as he did then things could’ve turned fatal.
Couture sensed something was off and walked from Unbreakable MMA gym to a local hospital in Los Angeles last month. Couture was sent to ICU as it was discovered that he was suffering from a heart attack. “The Natural” got the treatment he needed and is expected to make a full recovery.
Randy Couture Talks Surviving Heart Attack
Couture appeared on ESPN’s Ariel Helwani MMA Show to discuss what happened on the day of his heart attack (via MMAJunkie.com).
“They’re like, ‘Dude, you’re having a heart attack,” Couture said. “They rushed me right upstairs to the cath lab. (They) went in through my wrist. My thick blood had created a giant clot in my main artery – the ‘widowmaker,’ of course. I had a plaque rupture and the blood goes like it would with any wound to heal that wound. My blood is so thick it created a clot that occluded the whole artery.”
The former UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champion went on to say that had he waited longer, things could’ve taken a disastrous turn.
“I was lucky I came in when I came in,” Couture said. “If I had waited another 30 or 40 minutes, it would’ve been a different outcome … Any time something like that happens, it certainly gets your attention
“… To have a heart attack was strange. It just chips away at your identity a little bit. Who you are. Who you thought you were. I’m certainly happy to be back, up, and running. I’m feeling a lot more normal. A lot more like myself.”
