After a recent serious health scare, veteran grey nomad David Muirhead is convinced his recently acquired smart watch helped to save his life … and he is urging other travellers to consider getting one, too.
David and wife Cheryl have been exploring the highways and byways of Australia for decades in both tents and caravans, and they have always kept themselves fairly fit.
Indeed, at 76, David remains a keen cyclist and, indirectly, it was this hobby that may be the reason he is still able to look forward excitedly to many more adventures with Cheryl in their Sunland Patriot offroad SE-L Caravan.
About a year ago, David bought himself a Smart Watch thinking that, if he was to fall off his bike, the device would be able to send Cheryl the coordinates of where he had fallen.
“This watch is one smart device as it measures how far I ride, how far I walk, I’m able to answer phone calls on it, plays music, pay for my purchases, and it tells me the weather and a host of other things,” said David. “And recently my daughter added the BPM (beats per minute) icon to my watch face so could record my heart rate when exercising.”
Little did they know what a difference that was to make.
“Four weeks later at the beginning of a walk I started to feel that I could not continue,” said David. “Upon checking my BPM on my watch, I was shocked to see it was 180 – treble what it should be.”
When his watch told him that that number was staying at an extremely high level, David rang an ambulance and an ECG showed his heart was ‘going crazy’.
“The ambos sedated me and rushed me to the hospital where it was diagnosed that I had Ventricular Tachycardia which left unchecked would have ended up in possible death,” said David. “I now have a mini defibrillator inserted in my chest and along with medication I feel like a new man.”
Over the years, David and Cheryl have enjoyed some wonderful caravanning adventures, with trips to Tasmania, Lawn Hill, Winton, Cairns, Snowy Mountains, Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers among their favourites.
And they are confident there are many more to come.
As more and more grey nomads head out into increasingly remote country, David is now extremely keen to stress how important it is for them to stay alert for any health warning signs.
“I strongly recommend every senior gets a Smart Watch, don’t think it will never happen to me,” he said. “These Smart Watches can save your life … my watch saved mine.”
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how lucky he had reception – thats the. biggest worry. He would need a sat phone to cover that eventuality
I have a similar story. I have been a grey nomad for 7 years, and about 18 months ago I started to notice I was getting out of breath soon after starting a walk. I saw a cariologist, who said it was difficult to know what was going on without capturing data during one of these breathless events. So, a week of so later when I was having one of these brethless episodes, I captured a heart rate timeline and an ECG on my smartphone and sent it to my cardiologist, who immediately diagnosed intermittent bradycardia (low heart rate) due to sinus node dysfunction. The following week, after further hospital tests, I had a cardiac pacemekaer fitted, and have been fine ever since.
Hi David. Thank you for your great story would you mind telling me what brand and model smart watch you have ?
Stay healthy
Cheers
Rod
Great story David, I have been using my Samsung watch daily.
I’ve been going to get a smart watch for ages and thought my 60th in December I would get my family to get me one. Well, I had a heart attack last week at 59…. We are permanently on the road. RFDS flight from Kalgoorlie to Perth. Fabulous treatment and now back to my van to recooperate. Will be getting a smart watch now.