A mum whose soldier son took his own life feared she was suffering a cardiac arrest, only to be told by hospital doctors she was feeling the effects of grief caused by a broken heart.
Dawn Turner, mother of the late soldier Rob Homans, called 999 after she awoke with an ‘unbearable’ pain in her chest, believing she was having a heart attack.
However, medics told her it was ‘broken heart syndrome’ after she was rushed to Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester last week for urgent checks.
CLOSE: Dawn Turner with her late son, Rob Homans (Image: Dawn Turner)
The 56-year-old lost her 35-year-old son, a bombardier with the Royal Horse Artillery, after he took his own life in Worcester on August 22 last year.
Ms Turner has campaigned for better care and support for soldiers both before and after her son’s death. She set up award-winning charity Stepway, which supports veterans in their transition to civilian life, and later ‘Rob’s Army’, campaigning for change in her son’s name.
Ms Turner of Eckington said: “The pain went down my arm, I could not catch my breath, and my heart felt as though it was missing a beat and then thudding in again. For those moments, I truly believed I was having a heart attack.
“I called an ambulance and took aspirin while I waited. Within five minutes, the paramedics were with me.
“They put me on a heart monitor and carried out an ECG. From the start, they knew something was not right.
“They stayed calm, acted quickly, and treated me with such care and kindness when I was frightened and struggling to process what was happening.”
HEARTBREAK: Dawn Turner has campaigned for years for better support for veterans (Image: Dawn Turner)
She was taken straight into Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester, where an ECG showed her heart rhythm was irregular with an extra beat followed by a large pause.
Describing the experience as ‘frightening’, she said: “Later, the cardiologist explained that I had broken heart syndrome.
“Until that moment, I had never really understood that a person could become so overwhelmed by stress and grief that it physically affects the heart. Broken heart syndrome, also known as Takotsubo syndrome, can look and feel like a heart attack.”
Symptoms can be the same: crushing chest pain, breathlessness, ECG changes, and abnormal blood results.
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She added: “The cardiologist told me that thankfully my heart itself is healthy and there was no damage, but that it will take around two weeks to a month for my heart to reboot itself.
“I was given the choice of being admitted for bed rest and monitoring or going home if I had a good support network around me.
“I was told clearly that I must rest, seek counselling, and make changes to reduce the stress in my life.”
She said that while I was in hospital, her partner Paul sat with her and kept her calm.
“A few years ago, I saved his life when he really did have a heart attack, so he said this was him paying back the favour. This morning, he said something I do not think I will ever forget. He said, “Maybe the extra beat is for Rob. You are carrying on living for him. That broke me and healed me a little bit all at once,” she said.
