- Andrew Moore has returned home after suffering heart attack
Much-loved rugby league commentator Andrew Moore has returned home after suffering a massive heart attack that doctors feared he might not survive.
The ABC star was admitted to hospital last month after he suffered a sudden heart attack which saw him hospitalised for 24 days and undergo four operations.
Moore says a warning sign of the medical episode might have been when he uncharacteristically missed his flight after calling a match in Melbourne.
‘The Thursday night I worked in Melbourne and the Friday morning I did something I have never done before which was miss a flight,’ he told ABC radio.
‘On Sunday we were at Parramatta and I felt off all day. I felt crook and I thought I couldn’t wait to go home and lay on the couch.
‘I got up at 4.30am on Monday to get ready for work. But I felt crook with no energy. I texted work and said I am not coming in.
Andrew Moore has returned home after suffering a massive heart attack
‘On Wednesday morning, I woke up with chest pains. I felt it was something serious. It was like someone put a book on my chest and another one and another one but my mind was playing weird games before I got Janyne to call the ambulance.
‘They came over and very quickly diagnosed me as having a heart attack and they told me I’d be going to Westmead.’
While in hospital, Moore had stents placed in his heart during a three-hour surgery – and doctors told him how lucky he was to survive.
‘I didn’t realise the extent of the heart attack until a few days later when every doctor would come in and it would go from a ‘massive’ heart attack to a ‘miracle survival’ heart attack,’ Moore said.
‘I only found out when I was cleared of being in imminent danger that I had a 20 per cent chance of surviving. That was humbling.’
After five days, the commentator was moved to the coronary ward where he would endure another terrifying episode while he was taking some medication.
‘I remember I took the last three (pills) in one gulp and I got that chokey feeling … the next thing I knew I was woken up by the paddles on my chest with a bolt of light and I was aware for just a little while that I had the paddles, I heard him say ‘clear’ and then I felt the jolt and saw these bright lights,’ recounted Moore.
‘I could see a doctor on my chest and I could feel, one, two, three, four, five … a lady said. ‘He’s conscious, he’s conscious’ … so that was scary as hell.
Moore spent three-and-a-half weeks in hospital and is happy to be back home
‘I ended up having four of those episodes. I didn’t need the paddles again, but it was twice I needed CPR. It happened three times in front of my family. That hurt.
‘In a rare show of strength, I said, ‘I’m not dying here in front of them’.’
Moore was discharged on Friday and is starting to feel like his old self again.
He still has a long way to recover and isn’t sure when he will be returning to the microphone.
‘I am [proud], but as anyone who’s been through something serious [will tell you], you don’t have a choice,’ he said.
‘When anything was going to happen, whatever medical procedure, I was proud of the way I could just focus.
‘I was proud of the way I didn’t dwell on death when it was clearly an option. I’m proud of myself. I’m obviously a lot stronger internally than I thought.
‘I’m proud of the strength I’ve shown, but I’m gonna be more proud of the way I recover and get stronger again and live the rest of my life.
