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Footy Legend Shaun Timmins Reveals His Wife Saved His Life When He Didn’t Understand Why He Was Sick – Before Doctors Discovered His Heart Was Only Working At SIX PERCENT Capacity
- Former Dragons and NSW star ended up in intensive care with blood clot
- He was told he was about to have a heart attack because of his condition
- Wife Larissa convinced him to seek treatment, preventing tragedy
Former NRL star Shaun Timmins was recently saved from death when his wife insisted he go to hospital – where he spent a week in intensive care with a severely damaged heart.
The 46-year-old ex-Dragons and NSW five-eighth had been feeling ill for a while before his health struggles came to a head when he struggled to breathe during a footy tournament last month.
“To tell you the truth, I thought I was gone,” Timmins told the… Daily Telegram.
‘I didn’t know what was happening. I just thought I was an old, unfit footballer, but I train almost every day.’
Timmins thanks his wife Larissa (pictured together) for making sure he didn’t die of a blood clot in the heart that kept the organ working at a fraction of its capacity
The former NSW star (pictured playing for the Blues in 2003) suffered many serious injuries during his career, but nothing beats this fight, which left him with a resting heart rate of 190 beats per minute.
Timmins took a bad turn at his daughter’s OzTag Championships in Coffs Harbor on the north coast of NSW and the situation could have turned into tragedy had it not been for his better half.
“My wife Larissa told me I had to go to the hospital. She saved my life,’ he explained.
“I was at John Flynn Hospital on Sunday night and they said, ‘We don’t want to scare you, but we don’t have the manpower here to rescue you if it gets worse.’
‘I thought I was gone. The nurses couldn’t believe I was still standing. They told me I was lucky that I was so fit. My resting heart rate was 190 beats per minute.
“I didn’t have a heart attack, but I was on the threshold. They found a plug in my heart.’
‘Thought I was gone’: Timmins was in shock when he became seriously ill before his wife persuaded him to seek medical help
The condition meant that his heart was only working at six percent of its capacity and he was taken to Gold Coast University Hospital in an ambulance with sirens on.
Timmins will undergo heart shock treatment — which uses rapid bursts of electricity to get the organ beating normally again — and he will need to take medication.
His storied football career was nearly ended by another serious health problem in 2000, when an injury left him with a chronic knee condition so bad he couldn’t play for 18 months, leading to speculation that his playing days were over.
Remarkably, he returned to the field in 2002 and was named the Dragons’ best player that season.
The condition occurred in his other knee, but he fought on and enjoyed the most famous moment of his career in game one of the 2004 State of Origin series when he kicked the field goal that defeated Queensland in extra time.