‘I was sitting with my son and talking to my dad who passed away years ago’
A newly-wed and dad-to-be has described the moment he thought he had died, saying he felt “unbelievably happy”. Rhys Edwards, 35, didn’t think he’d make it home after suffering a cardiac arrest on a work trip. After being rushed to hospital, doctors fitted him with a temporary pacemaker, but it dislodged causing his heart to stop.
“The machine was accidentally disconnected and my heart stopped immediately. I honestly thought I’d died,” Rhys revealed. But the Penarth-based father-of-two remembered feeling an overwhelming sense of peace despite the life-threatening situation he found himself in.
“I fell unconscious and remember feeling a sense of warmth and euphoria”, he told WalesOnline. “I was unbelievably happy, sitting with my son and talking to my dad who passed away years ago. Then I woke up to doctors shaking me. That was the moment I realised how close I’d come.”
Later that day, he was fitted with an external temporary pacemaker attached to his chest, minimising the risk of another accidental disconnection.
It was a dramatic change in circumstances for Rhys. Life seemed perfect when he boarded the plane to New York for his work trip. Just a fortnight prior, he had tied the knot with his wife Georgia in a beautiful ceremony surrounded by loved ones.
“It was the happiest time of my life,” Rhys said. “We had our little boy Archie there and we’d just found out Georgia was expecting our daughter Wynny. Everything felt perfect.”
However, within days, everything took a turn for the worse as Rhys started experiencing flu-like symptoms.
“Georgia told me not to go but I thought I could push through,” he confessed. However, by the time he touched down in New York, his health had taken a turn for the worse: “My body was sore, walking was hard, and then I noticed a strange rash across my chest. I thought it was just a nasty virus.”
Deciding to seek medical advice, Rhys made a call to his boss before heading to the hospital: “I wasn’t worried – I thought they’d give me some meds and send me home. But when they scanned me my temperature was 39 degrees and things spiralled from there.”
The medical team discovered his heart was under severe strain, leading to his transfer to a cardiac critical care unit.
“”I remember watching my heart rate drop from the 60s to 35 beats per minute. That’s when it hit me – something was seriously wrong,” he said.
At the crack of dawn, Rhys underwent an emergency procedure to fit a temporary transvenous pacemaker, a device inserted via the right jugular vein directly into the heart. The impact was immediate, stabilising his heart rate at 80 beats per minute, but he became entirely reliant on this pacemaker, which needed a replacement when it malfunctioned. Once he was stable and fitted with a permanent pacemaker, further tests revealed the cause of his cardiac arrest – a rare strain of Coxsackie virus, associated with hand, foot and mouth disease.
“It was surreal,” he said. “One day I was healthy, the next I was fighting for my life because of a virus I’d never heard of.”
Following almost a fortnight in hospital, Rhys was released but remained in a hotel for an additional week before returning home to begin the lengthy and agonising recovery journey.
“The physical side was tough but the mental side was brutal,” he said. “I had panic attacks, constant anxiety and I didn’t even have the strength to pick up my son. That broke me.”
Almost four years after his near-fatal experience in 2022, Rhys has had his pacemaker taken out, is now tracked through an implantable loop recorder, and is gradually piecing his life back together.
“I’m not the same person I was before. I still get flutters and worry about pushing myself too hard,” he said. “But I focus on gratitude – watching my kids play, enjoying the little things.”
Rhys, employed by a global aircraft leasing firm, said he wanted to thank the British Heart Foundation for crucial assistance: “Their nurse helpline was a lifeline for me.”
His wife, Georgia, ran the Cardiff Half Marathon for them in 2024.
Rhys said: “I want people to know there is life after a heart scare, but recovery takes time. Don’t rush it. Seek help – especially for your mental health. If you’re feeling unwell for too long see a doctor. Don’t assume it’s just a bug.
“If I hadn’t spoken to my boss that day I would have died on the plane home. If you’ve been through a health scare like this I’d say take it one day at a time and just be thankful you’re here.”
Rhys is sharing his experiences as part of a campaign by British Heart Foundation (BHF) Cymru. In celebration of 65 years of BHF funding lifesaving research, the charity is revealing 65 red benches across the UK in honour of those living with cardiovascular disease. A red bench has been revealed in Alexandra Park, Penarth, to acknowledge Rhys’ experience.
