It is one of the most serious medical emergencies that a person can have and 218 people have lost their lives in 2015 as a result — it is the heart attack.
For those who survive, it can be difficult to live with the fear that a heart attack will strike again when least expected.
That was the situation Heather Lodge found herself in earlier this year.
Heather’s lifestyle was a world away from one that stereotypically leads to a cardiac event.
The 59-year-old enjoyed taking part in Zumba classes and going for long walks.
But one Sunday in August, everything changed.
She said: “I was having severe pains in my back, which isn’t one of the symptoms that would make you think it was anything to do with your heart.
“I was also having difficulty breathing — I was really short of breath and my chest was aching.
“I called NHS 24 and was sent up to the hospital. The next thing I knew I was having a stent put into my heart.”
Along with the physical pain and trauma of a heart attack, which happens when the supply of blood to the organ is suddenly interrupted, the mental strain that it can put on a person is enormous. Heather said: “Your first thought is ‘how am I going to manage?’ And you don’t really know what you have to do.
“At first you are scared to go out on your own in case something happens.
“Eventually, when nothing bad happens, you manage to forget about it and get on with things.”
A number of schemes have recently been unveiled to raise awareness of cardiac safety, including a CPR training scheme run by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.
Such initiatives and medical advances means that the number of people who survive heart attacks is rising year on year.
Many would picture someone recovering from having a heart attack as a bedridden patient requiring round-the-clock care. In actual fact, they could be back at home within a few days, before starting a recovery programme within weeks.
Today, Heather is a regular at the Ninewells Hospital’s cardiac gym.
The recovery process involves education — explaining the lifestyle choices that are essential to recovering — and also physically building up strength gradually.
The latter involves an eight-week programme, delivered by the cardiac rehabilitation team including a physiotherapist, a specialist nurse and support worker.
It involves a regime of bodyweight and cardio-led exercises, resembling circuit training, with exercises like bicep curls and pectoral flys coupled with exercise bikes and step-ups.
Each session lasts about 30 minutes, not including a 15-minute warm-up and a 10-minute cool down. Cardiac rehabilitation specialist nurse, Wendy Warden, said the most important part is giving people confidence in their body’s abilities.
She said: “One of the most important things we have to do is help a patient get back their confidence.
“That is what we are all about — we’re trying to get people back to their normal lives. We help people come back from heart failure and become a fully functioning member of society again.”
Fiona Brownlie, lead cardiac rehab physiotherapist, stressed the importance of flexibility on the part of the healthcare providers.
She said: “There are options available for many different types of people. If they don’t feel comfortable in the gym, then we also have a home workout DVD they can use.”
Heather says that once she had started rehabilitation she “never looked back”.
Despite suffering a heart attack in August, Heather is back working as a nurse in a care home.