From surgery to recovery, young heart attack survivor on the mental and physical toll and how therapy, meditation and mindfulness help him find peace

One seemingly ordinary morning, Carl Fernando was leaving his gym when he started to feel a strange sensation. The tightness in his chest grew with each step, spreading to his neck and jaw. Labouring into his flat where his wife, Alisha, was doing yoga, he told her something was very wrong. They called an ambulance and he was whisked to hospital.

Fernando, aged 39, fitter and healthier than he had ever been, was having a heart attack. Now recovering, the Hong Kong-based compliance professional is focused on sharing the importance of health consciousness.

“The heart attack came as a huge shock,” he says. Fernando was in the best shape of his life right before the attack – swimming, going to the gym daily, being conscious of what he was eating. “It was illogical this would happen,” he adds.

According to Dr Tse Tak Sun, a cardiology consultant at Gleneagles Hospital Hong Kong, heart attacks occur when plaque, comprising fat and cholesterol, builds up in arteries going to the heart. When plaque build-ups break, blood clots around the wound, blocking blood flow and causing a heart attack.

Fernando was wheeled into hospital and told he would need to be operated on immediately.

“First I felt relief because I thought, OK, that explains it, now you can do something,” recalls Fernando. “But I also felt the seriousness of knowing I might not make it. I can only imagine how devastating this must have been for Alisha.”