48-year-old Dallas man hopes his heart attack can serve as a wake-up call for others

DALLAS - A North Texas husband and father survived a massive heart attack he suffered at work.

The 48-year-old knew the warning signs, having lost both his father and grandfather to heart attacks, He's sharing his story in hopes of getting younger men to pay closer attention to their health.

Sean Astolfo had just finished a Zoom meeting on February 1 when his body began to shut down.

"I was feeling chest pain that was going up to my jaw," he explained.

The 48-year-old husband and father of five was having a heart attack.

Astolfo works right across the street from Texas Health Dallas. He drove himself there, where he collapsed in front of an ER nurse.

"We did an EKG, it came back normal and about 4 minutes later the nurse said she turned and looked back, and I was going into cardiac arrest," Astolfo recalled.

He'd spend 14 days at Texas Health Dallas, undergo two heart procedures and spend several days on ECMO, a simplified version of a heart and lung machine that pumps blood through an artificial lung back into the bloodstream of the patient.

"That usually means that they had what's called the lethal arrhythmia. Very bad rhythm that would drop your blood pressure and their heart would stand still," explained Dr. James Park.

Dr. Park is an interventional cardiologist at Texas Health Dallas.

He operated on Sean, placing two stints to open up his arteries.

"He had an occluded left anterior descending artery, or the artery that's to the front of the heart. It's a very important, big artery. And I started working on it, and he did well," said Dr. Park.

He praised Astolfo for his quick action, which helped to save his life.

Astolfo knew the symptoms of a heart attack.

Sadly, his dad died at age 69 on Father's Day weekend and his grandfather died from a heart attack at just 36 years old.

Over the past three months, Sean's health has dramatically improved.

He does cardiac rehab three days per week.

He's eating better and lost 25 pounds.

Sean is also working less.

"In a way this is allowing me to become myself again," he said.

He is spending more quality time with his wife and children.

Sean is extremely grateful to the medical staff at Texas Health Dallas.

Both men say it's important for relatively younger adults, people in their 30s and 40s, to know their health risks.

Heart Attack Symptoms

• Chest pain may feel like pressure, tightness, pain, squeezing or aching
• Pain or discomfort that spreads to the shoulder, arm, back, neck, jaw, teeth or sometimes the upper belly
• Cold sweat
• Fatigue
• Heartburn or indigestion
• Lightheadedness or sudden dizziness
• Nausea
• Shortness of breath