A 17-year-old basketball suffered a shock cardiac arrest after mistaking a ‘buzzing’ feeling as an effect of energy drinks – rather than a warning of what was to come.
Jack Taylor had experienced ‘dizzy spells’ in the weeks leading up to the health scare, but it wasn’t until he was playing basketball that he realised something was amiss.
Having drunk an energy drink beforehand, he thought his racing heart was “normal” – until he collapsed on the court.
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A first aid trained person performed CPR, saving his life, and he was rushed to hospital where he was given a “very low chance” of survival, and spent 35 days on life support.
There, they discovered the cause of his shock cardiac arrest – a rare inherited heart condition.
“I had experienced dizzy spells in the weeks before and my mum was taking me to get this checked within a few days, but we didn’t make it, obviously,” Jack, a student of software engineering who lives in Nottingham, told Need To Know.
“When I think back to the night of the basketball, I do recall feeling my heart was racing and I felt very ‘buzzy’ but that was normal for me after having energy drink before sport.
“I wasn’t too worried.”
Now 20, Jack is reflecting on the February 2024 incident and how life has changed since his diagnosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy – of which there is currently no cure.
He said: “There’s so much I can’t remember about what happened and lots of what I can remember is quite scary – or was at the time.
“I’m so thankful to all of the staff who saved my life and looked after me so well.
“It’s hard for me to really understand everything that I have been through and I suppose at my age, I take things in my stride but I do know this has had a big impact on my family.
“I see how upset my mum and dad get and I can’t imagine how hard it all was for them.”
Recovery took many months for the young lad, including open heart surgery, and Jack now lives with an internal defibrillator known as an implantable cardioverter defibrillator that can monitor and treat abnormal heart rhythms.
Genetic testing found his dad, Rick, and twin brother, Max, also carry the same gene variant responsible for his cardiac arrest.
While there is no cure currently, one could be in sight – with British Heart Foundation professor Hugh Watkins and Harvard University professor Christine Seidman awarded £30 million for their CureHeart project to find and develop cures for inherited heart muscle diseases like Jack’s.
Jack recently met Professor Watkins at the University of Oxford and learn about the search for a cure for the condition which changed his life overnight.
In a touching moment captured on film, Professor Watkins realised he was the first to discover the HCM gene that causes Jack’s heart condition called MYBPC3.
This discovery was an important early step in our understanding of the genetic causes of HCM, and Professor Watkins and his team went on to open the UK’s first genetic testing service for the condition.
He told Jack: “Your mum thought it would be helpful for me to see the gene change you have. I did a double take, because it’s very close to home to me as a scientist.
“[The gene] is one that I discovered when I was early in my research career in 1995, and I’ve got scientists in the lab working on the exact gene change that you have and are trying to find ways to fix it.”
Jack said of the experience: “Hearing about this research has made me not only grateful but also hopeful.
“Hopefully one day I’ll be cured of this, but more importantly, the next generation.
“Hopefully they won’t have to go through what I’ve gone through.”
Reflecting on his future, he added: “After collapsing, I don’t remember anything.
“I don’t even remember much leading up to it.
“I remember lots of things about being in hospital, about some of the amazing staff and moments that were turning points for me.
“As I continue to recover, I find some things frustrating such as my dysarthria which makes my speech slow.
“I also still have memory issues which worries me, but I don’t let it affect my life.
“I’m determined to keep improving.”
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