'Practically a walking miracle': Shropshire man shares his experience with rare heart condition which has meant multiple hospital visits
A 30-year-old Shropshire man shares his challenges with ventricular tachycardia.
"Three years ago I had a throat infection, went into sepsis, and I had an out of hospital cardiac arrest, that was the first of many," Daniel Jackson, from Telford, told the Shropshire Star.
Daniel lives at home with his mother, who first heard him "scream out" in pain on July 20, 2023. She rushed to see what was wrong, found her son in cardiac arrest and began to resuscitate him.
This was the start of Daniel's journey with ventricular tachycardia. Great Ormond Street Hospital describes ventricular tachycardia as "a type of arrhythmia or abnormal heart rhythm".
"It is caused by the electric signals in the heart starting in a different place and travelling a different way through the heart."
He was soon airlifted to Royal Stoke University Hospital from a local park. A few days later he woke up in hospital and was told he had experienced cardiac arrest.
A few months later he experienced a second one and was then taken to the The Princess Royal Hospital in Telford.
He then experienced three more cardiac arrests while in hospital and was put on more medication, and had a defibrillator implanted in his chest to monitor and regulate his heart rhythm.
Not long after, while he was on holiday in Wales, the device began triggering - Daniel said he went to hospital in Bangor but they couldn't help.
"I've just been shocked, over and over again. It's over 17 500 volts." After this incident, he was taken to Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital.
Paramedics have told him that he's "practically a walking miracle".
He said he has been dealing with severe depression and anxiety, but has gone to the gym and has got back into shape. "I was overweight and got back into shape afterwards", he told the Shropshire Star.
For those struggling with the same condition, Daniel would like to let them know that things can get better and he is grateful to be alive.
"I think the fact that I'm still here, to be able to be with my family and just have more time to do the things that I want to do."
