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Apple Watch helps man survive potentially fatal heart attack

Updated Mar 15th, 2016 6:00PM EDT
Apple Watch Heart Attack
Image: Chris Smith, BGR

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The Apple Watch is probably already on your must-have list, but a man in Canada was able to avoid a heart attack thanks to the Apple Watch he’d recently purchased.

Dennis Anselmo, a 62-year-old builder, was returning to work after lunch on August 18th last year when he began feeling unwell. Little did he know that what he suspected to be a flu or fever was actually a heart attack.

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“I was building a fence placing posts in the ground. We finished lunch at 1.15 and was back to work,” Anselmo told The Sun. “I felt terrible – like I had a really bad flu. I worked for maybe ten minutes but said to my helper I need to sit down.

“So I sat on trailer for a couple of minutes and was planning to go home – I felt all over the place.”

As he sat down, he started playing with the Apple Watch he purchased two weeks beforehand. He noticed that his pulse was at 210 rather than a normal range.

“I turned to my helper and said: We need an ambulance,” the builder said. “They came out, figured out I was having a heart attack, and I was off to hospital. They cleared the blockages, so I didn’t have another attack.

“They told me that if I had gone home and gone to bed – as many people do – I would likely have had another, more serious bout in the middle of the night. Those second attacks are the ones that kill. That is a common problem.”

Anselmo bought the watch in spite of his wife’s wishes. He’s an avid collector, having 35 watches. “She complained but after the heart attack, she said ‘that watch has paid for itself.’ Since the incident, the other 35 are locked up and don’t see daylight.”

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.