Despite dismissing the signs and denying that something was wrong, it was on Monday August 16th, 2010 when I actually experienced a minor heart attack.

After spending the better part of the day installing a larger ceiling fan in our kitchen, I got in the shower around 8:30pm to clean up. When I got out of the shower and began to dry off, that is when I once again felt the shortness of breath and the ever-so-familiar heart palpitations. Normally they would subside within minutes, but this time they did not. Still half wet, I lay down on the bed for the heart to calm down but the symptoms persisted. I could feel the blood rushing through my neck and into my head more intensely than ever.

Patiently waiting for everything to return to normal, it would be fifteen minutes later that I would experience yet another symptom that turned out to be a game-changer — numbness in my left arm. This was the first time I felt the tingling sensation under my left arm, between the shoulder and the elbow. I tried to shake it off but nothing seemed to help, and after half an hour, I finally told my girlfriend about my symptoms. After years of a healthy and fairly active lifestyle, I now knew there was something wrong.