Man survived the widow maker

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - An unknown author once wrote: "The difficulties of life are intended to make us better, not bitter."
Joel Robbins said his heart has a new reason to beat after surviving a deadly heart attack.

"It did very much shake me to the core," said Robbins.

Robbins shouldn't be alive. He thinks about it every day.

A little more than a year ago, Robbins’ and wife Wendy’s kids, Isaac and Ashley, were doing some work in the backyard of their Lafayette home, when Robbins became out of breath and overheated.

At the age of 44, he thought he was too young to have a heart attack, so he overlooked the classic symptoms.

He went upstairs to take a shower and cool off.

"While I was in the shower I ended up getting a very excruciating pain in my chest. It was like the elephant on your chest syndrome. I felt like a strap was being tightened and tightened,” said Robbins.

Robbins’ arms went numb, and he stumbled down the stairs to get help.

"We have the Lord's prayer on the stairway, above the landing. I remember seeing that and thinking, 'start praying buddy,” said Robbins.

Robbins was suffering from a "widow maker" heart attack. His left main coronary artery was blocked.

"When it gets blocked, it results to damage to a very large part of the left ventricle. That often can be fatal. Hence the term "widow maker’,” said Dr. Bob Kolla, a cardiologist at Franciscan St. Elizabeth Health.

Robbins ended up face down in the family room, his family watching him fight to breathe.
Wendy Robbins called 9-1-1.

"I still could not believe it. It is still hard to believe,” said Wendy.

"The hardest part of the whole deal was being wheeled out on the stretcher and seeing my kids and thinking that was the last time I was going to see my family,” Robbins explained.

"It was sad, we made him a poster and gave it to him when he got home. It said 'welcome home dad,” Ashley, Robbins’ daughter, said.

"Robbins was wheeled into the ER at IU Health Arnett Hospital, fighting for life. He said he was amazed how much his life changed after he left the hospital.

"It caused me to reprioritize my work life. You tend to get that skewed a little. Every moment with them is more treasured now than what it was before,” Robbins said.

Robbins said he is eating better, cutting out salt from his diet - almost entirely.

No more Mountain Dews either.

So far he's dropped 54 pounds.

"I say dropped the pounds instead of saying I lost weight, because I am not looking for it,” Robbins joked.

Robbins said his life was spared so he could tell his story, in the hopes of preventing future heart attacks for others.

As traumatic as the experience was for both he and his family, he said he wouldn't change it for anything.

Robbins said his brush with death has led him to take an active roll in the American Heart Association and the Start Heart Walk.