A farmer in Northern Ireland who “took Gaviscon” and worked on feeding calves and cows during a heart attack has warned that life is precious.

Portrush farmer, Robert Nevin, had woken up at 3:00a.m one night with chest pains and thought he had indigestion.

His wife Lorna, who is a nurse had asked him “lots of questions” and checked if needed to go to hospital but Nevin “played it down”.

“I took some Gaviscon and eventually managed to doze off again.

“It seemed to be more than indigestion and I really struggled to get comfortable but in farming there’s no such thing as illness really.

“There’s tomorrow, and unless you’ve severed a limb you get up to feed the cows,” he added.

But the next morning when he woke up at 7:00a.m the Portrush farmer did not feel any better.

“It was a constant pain, but like someone hitting me in the chest with their fist. But I just got on with it. I had breakfast and drove to our home farm six miles away and worked for the next five hours – feeding calves and cows, there’s no sitting down in this job.

“I went home for lunch and Lorna was there working from home. She saw the state of me and said she was taking me to hospital, but I insisted on driving myself.

“Classic farming mentality, I didn’t want to bother anyone else,” Nevin said.

Heart attack

He drove himself to the the Causeway Hospital in Coleraine, where tests showed he was having a heart attack and he had to be blue-lighted via ambulance to Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry.

According to Nevin, there had previously been no significant history of heart health issues in his family.

“I’ve always been fairly fit and healthy – I don’t smoke or drink, and as a farmer I’m generally out working seven days a week in all weather.

“My heart attack happened in February 2024 when I was 59, without any prior symptoms.

“I’d never experienced chest pain and I had indigestion probably twice a year, so in the hours leading up to my attack that’s what I thought was happening,” he said.

Subsequently Nevin had a stent fitted, was put on medication, and spent a number of weeks in hospital.

After he left he began a 12-week cardiac rehab programme.

Nevin has recovered well, but his daily farming life as he knew it before his heart attack had to change.

He is still involved in farming but his milking herd of cows has been sold and now the family has a holiday home business and a yard it lets out for horses.

Portrush farmer Robert Nevin with wife Lorna, sons Jack and Peter and dog Callie. Source: British Heart Foundation

NI farmer

Looking back the NI farmer said the “experience has taught me how important it is for everyone to look after their heart health and take it seriously”.

“I was fit and healthy all my life and many people, including myself, struggled to understand how this happened to me.

“Particularly in the field of farming, which can be a very stressful and isolating line of work, farmers might have more of a tendency to ignore symptoms as I did and to a certain extent believe they are invincible,” Nevin added.

British Heart Foundation

Robert Nevin is one of a number of people sharing their experiences as part of a new campaign by the charity, the British Heart Foundation.

His and other survivor’s stories are now being celebrated by the charity with special red benches.

A British Heart Foundation red bench will be unveiled along the Causeway Coast, to recognise what Nevin went through.

He said: “I’m delighted that my bench will be placed locally as I’m a proud North Coast man, so it was important to me that the bench is there for the community to use.

“Having a bench in my name means a lot to me as it’s a reminder of how precious life is and how grateful I am for the care I’ve received to give me a second chance at life as well as the importance of the research work that the British Heart Foundation does.”

The charity hopes that the red benches will encourage others to open up about their experience of living with cardiovascular disease and help raise awareness across of it.

Fearghal McKinney, head of British Heart Foundation Northern Ireland, said Robert Nevin’s story shows the “true reality of living with cardiovascular disease”.

“Despite being one of Northern Ireland’s biggest killers, our new findings show cardiovascular disease is still misunderstood or not taken seriously – and that those living with it face judgement and challenges,” McKinney added.

The charity said there are an estimated 225,000 people living with cardiovascular disease in Northern Ireland and it hopes to fund the scientific breakthroughs of tomorrow, “thanks to the public’s generous donations.”

Heart attack

NI farmer

British Heart Foundation

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'I thought it was indigestion' - NI farmer fed calves and cows during heart attack