Wigan pub chain boss's NHS praise after suffering heart attack

Wigan’s pub and club king says he is lucky to be alive after suffering a heart attack.
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Tony Callaghan said it was only down to the brilliance of medical staff and the good fortune of having family nearby when he was taken ill that he is here to tell the tale.

The 61-year-old owner of the Fifteens bar chain says that thanks to everyone’s fast work - including emergency cardiac surgery at Liverpool’s Broadgreen Hospital - he should make a full recovery and be back in circulation for the new year.

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Mr Callaghan was gardening at his home in Roby Mill, Up Holland, when he began to feel unwell, thinking at first it was indigestion.

Tony Callaghan before his heart attackTony Callaghan before his heart attack
Tony Callaghan before his heart attack

The first wave passed, so he carried on, then the pain came back worse so he went inside and called for wife Bev and they had a drink and the problem abated but after she went back upstairs, events took a more frightening turn.

Mr Callaghan said: “The pain came back again and this time it was worse.

“I was cold and clammy and did not have breath to shout for Bev and I didn’t have my phone so I crawled upstairs to get to her and we decided to ring 999.

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“The operator suggested that while an ambulance was on the way that someone get a defibrillator if possible.

Broadgreen HospitalBroadgreen Hospital
Broadgreen Hospital

“My daughter Maisie ran about quarter of a mile to get the one from the new Italian restaurant, Il Mulino. She’s only 18 and I can’t imagine what she was thinking while she tore down there and back.”

While Maisie was out, the pain eased, and soon after an ambulance arrived.

Paramedics put wires on Mr Callaghan to check him out and told him that he was all right, he wasn’t having a heart attack but they were concerned to him and so it was decided they would take him to Wigan Infirmary.

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But just as they were about to leave there was a resurgence of pain and this time it was far worse.

Mr Callaghan said: “The pain was unbearable. They put the wires back on and this time the lady told me “Tony, you are having a heart attack now.” They are the words you don’t want to hear.

“They put drugs into me and asked whether I wanted to go to Manchester Royal or Broadgreen and I said the latter because my son Sam is a physio and has worked there and I knew it had a good reputation. Not that I don’t think Manchester Royal doesn’t!

“We set off with two ambulance workers in the front and one in the back with me.

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“It frightened me to death when they stopped off to pick up a fourth member of staff because then I knew it was really serious and things weren’t going well for me.

“And when we arrived at Broadgreen there were six or seven staff waiting for me and I was whisked straight into the operating theatre.

“They stuck a needle in my arm to give me a local anaesthetic and talked me through the heart surgery as they put two stents inside me.

“It was difficult to keep track of time but I think the whole procedure only lasted about half an hour.”

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Mr Callaghan was told that due to everything being dealt with quickly there was only a small amount of damage to his heart and that it should heal completely.

He has to go back for check-ups but says that while he is tired, he also now feels fantastic.

He added: “I am a very lucky boy. If Bev and Maisie hadn’t been there or the ambulance and hospital doctors acted so swiftly and efficiently I don’t think I’d be here now.

“People knock the NHS but it’s only when you are in the thick of it that you realise just how fabulous it is.”

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Asked what he thought might have lead to the heart attack and whether there had been any signs, he said: “I think it might have been a combination of things.

“A lot of us have been having difficulties in the last couple of years. But I don’t smoke and while I drink I only drink socially.

“It may be that various factors have come together and my heart has decided that it was time to pop.

“When I think back, friends have said that they were remarking on my sounding breathless and there were times when I felt dizzy.

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“I had a knee operation a few months ago and have also had problems with my hip and I had put my unsteadiness down to them, but now I’m not so sure.”

Mr Callaghan said that Broadgreen had an excellent rehabilitation team and that he was being given advice on exercise and diet, adding: “It’s great still to be here and I have been told I should make a full recovery. With luck I’ll be back in the swing of things in the new year.”

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