Parramatta’s three-time premiership-winning legend Peter Wynn feared he would die after suffering a roadside heart attack in Bondi.
Wynn, 63, was walking home from a routine swim at Bondi Icebergs when he collapsed under a tree on Campbell Parade with chest pains and aching arms.
“Honestly, I felt like I was dying — I was cactus,” Wynn said.
“I was in pain and couldn’t breathe. The sweat that comes over you, I couldn’t believe it. It was a moment I never imagined happening to me. I never imagined having a heart attack.
“I had no strength, I was just gone. I couldn’t do anything, I was whacked. I had no control, it was a moment of complete helplessness. I just wanted someone to get rid of the pain in my chest, it just wouldn’t go.
“I didn’t know what I was going to do. I couldn’t do anything to reverse what was happening. I couldn’t get myself up off the ground. It was very scary.”
In what could have been a lifesaving slice of luck, Wynn’s wife, Linda, happened to be walking past with baby granddaughter Bella in a pram.
Linda helped Wynn to his feet and rang an ambulance.
The former Eels forward was rushed to St Vincent’s Private, Darlinghurst, for urgent surgery on Sunday and then a second operation on Monday where stents were inserted to unblock two arteries leading to his heart. He remains in hospital recovering.
“On Saturday I did my normal swim, walked home and had a shower when this massive heartburn hit me. I thought: ‘Oh God’,” Wynn said.
“I started walking down to get the bus to work and the pain, it was so hard to describe. My arms were aching and my jaw was aching. I couldn’t walk — I had to sit down under a tree.
“I was just lucky my wife was walking my little granddaughter and she saw me. She never normally goes that way. I told her to get me to a doctor.
“I couldn’t get to the bus. I was sitting on the ground and didn’t have any control over myself. We got back up to the apartment and Linda rang the ambulance. It arrived within 10 minutes.
“Even in the ambulance I couldn’t get any relief. I couldn’t get any relief when I got into the emergency ward. The doctors took blood and when the results came back they told me I’d had a heart attack. They said it was a big heart attack.
“I had an operation on the Sunday where they put in one stent and then there was another operation the next day where they put in another stent.”
Wynn has a healthy diet and exercises regularly, prompting him to believe the heart attack was hereditary.
“I get up early and swim at Icebergs three or four times a week. That’s my routine,” Wynn said. “It was blockage caused by genetics. I’ve got a good diet, good fitness levels.
Two out of three arteries to my heart were blocked. It was scary given I lead a good lifestyle. You could never pick it. I was just walking home from training and then ‘whack’ – I couldn’t believe it.”
Wynn, an Australian and NSW representative, runs and owns the successful Peter Wynn’s Score sports store on Church Street, Parramatta.
With surgery deemed successful, Wynn hopes to be discharged either Thursday or Friday.
I’m having a few tests every day to make sure everything is 100 per cent before I leave hospital. I will fight on.”
Wynn won premierships at Parramatta in 1982, 1983 and 1986. He played six games for NSW and three Tests for Australia. In 2002, Wynn was inducted in Parramatta’s Hall of Fame.
“I’m a bit wounded,” he said. “There are no rules when it comes to heart attacks. I was very lucky to survive and very lucky my wife was there to get the ambulance.
Replies
Lucky man, get well soon
Hope all is good for Peter he was a great player and a Parra legend always gave his all get better soon
Wow..
Best wishes to him on a speedy recovery
It's Bondi , I bet 20 locals walked past him and took an Instagram photo putting $2 in the homeless mans hat .
The old story - you never know when it is going to happen to you. My twenty year old super fit daughter was playing hockey last night, Got real bad chest pains and was carted off to hospital. Appears she has a virus inside the sac that covers the heart. Fatal if not treated. YES peter I know how you feel champion.
Glad they found it when they did mate
Thanks mate.
Spot on Paul, you never know. I have known a couple of people all blokes who copped a heart attack and survived, but then so many do not. Folkesy was another one...he was v fit I believe and was training for triathlons or the like.
This is a massive reminder that heart health is a serious concern in the community, especially for men regardless of how fit and healthy you are. Garry Jack I believe had a heart attack either earlier this year or last year as well.
Closer to home my family has a very concerning history of heart disease and cardiac problems. My grandfather suffered a heart attack in his late 40s that ended up causing him plenty of problems once he got into his 60s, my uncle died on the football pitch at 43 from a massive heart attack not too dissimilar to Peter's and my dad had and survived a stroke at the age of 48. Pa, my uncle and dad were all incredibly healthy. Dad had been going to a cardiologist for over 20 years to monitor his heart health and still had a stroke.
There are community initiatives that are steadily gaining more and more support to try and address this. Heartbeat of Football is on a campaign to ensure every local ground in NSW has an AED. It's lead by former SBS journalist Andy Paschalidis and has Tim Cahill as a global ambassador. https://heartbeatoffootball.com.au/