Soccer player recovers from heart scare

A heart scare on the soccer pitch nearly took the life of a North Texas man, but the problem wasn't what doctors immediately thought.

During a recent soccer game, 30-year-old Hunter Mixson recalls the moment when his heart gave out.

"I knew something was wrong. I wasn't feeling right and I started to walk off the field. I got off the field, onto the bench, and sat down, and a few seconds later is when I collapsed," said Mixson.

Luckily, paramedics got to him in seconds and wheeled him off the field to provide medical care.

"They knew something was up with my heart. So they admitted me, I stayed in the hospital overnight, and then the next day is when I basically had a full-blown heart attack," said Mixson.

However, doctors would later find out, it wasn't a normal heart attack.

Mixson suffered from spontaneous coronary artery dissection, or SCAD, which is a tear in a vessel that supplies blood to the heart.

Even though SCAD can affect adults of any age, it tends to occur most often in women in their 40s and 50s, and primarily those considered relatively healthy.

Unlike a normal heart attack, where a clot blocks blood flow to the heart, SCAD develops when a bleed or a bruise causes a separation between layers of the artery wall, then expands and cuts off blood flow to the artery, according to the American Heart Association (AHA).

It tends to occur most often in relatively healthy women in their 40s and 50s.

"Typically, you'll see it in postpartum or that type of situation where there are hormones, elasticity of the vessels, elevation, and blood pressures during pregnancy," said cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Carlos Macias at Texas Health Fort Worth.

Dr. Macias says it's unclear exactly why Mixson suffered from SCAD, but believes it might be genetic.

Doctors are doing genetic testing on Mixson in search of answers.

They determined the best course of action was coronary artery bypass surgery.

After extracting a blood vessel from Mixson’s right leg, called a graft, Macias rerouted blood around both torn arteries and restored blood flow to his heart.

After five days in the hospital, Mixson started what's been a long road to recovery, but he's grateful for surviving the heart scare.

"If someone else has to go through this, they can look at me and I can be someone for them to look up to, or to hear my story, and they have a little bit more hope," said Mixson.

Symptoms of SCAD are similar to those of a heart attack: chest pain or pain in other areas like the arms, neck, or jaw, shortness of breath, nausea or vomiting, lightheadedness or dizziness, sweating, or fatigue.