![\"Hosts](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0_gary1PNG.png\")
<\/p>\nBBC Morning Live\u2019s legal expert, Gary Rycroft said he thought he was suffering from asthma<\/p>\n
02:14, 28 Apr 2026Updated 08:52, 28 Apr 2026<\/p>\n
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Hosts Rick Edwards and Helen Skelton were told by expert Gary Rycroft about his narrow escape(Image: BBC)<\/p>\n
A BBC star has explained how he was horrified to be \u2018hours\u2019 from a potentially lethal heart attack after undergoing a surgical procedure. BBC<\/a> Morning Live\u2019s legal expert, Gary Rycroft, told hosts Rick Edwards and Helen Skelton that he had been suffering from a few chest pains, but put it down to just getting older.<\/p>\n He decided to do the Couch to 5k challenge – and said he had never felt better in many ways. He said: \u201cI think it’s typical of dare I say men of my age, where we ignore things. We think we\u2019re getting old. I didn\u2019t wear glasses till I was 50. My hearing really is not as good as it used to be.<\/p>\n “So when I started to get chest pains walking my dog, I live on top of a hill,<\/a> so I\u2019m up and down the hill two or three times a day walking to work, walking my dog, and I\u2019d say every fortnight or so I\u2019d get a chest pain and it would pass really quickly. So I didn\u2019t really think anything of it. I put it to the back of my mind as people tend to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Flu cure was hiding in the human body all this time, nasal spray to reverse brain ageing, alien-like amphibian holds key to regrowing limbs, and scientists make potion to banish baldness – all this and more in our latest science newsletter<\/a><\/p>\n Mr Rycroft said whatever people do they should get any symptoms checked out. He only got it checked out because he was doing the Couch to 5k and thought he\u2019d like to hear from a doctor.<\/p>\n BBC Morning Live\u2019s legal expert, Gary Rycroft was stunned to discover he had a serious heart condition(Image: BBC)<\/p>\n He said: \u201cI actually did feel a lot better and I lost quite a bit of weight. So, I was feeling really good, but I\u2019d started this diagnostic journey with my GP. So, I\u2019d had an ECG. They checked out the electrics of the heart. That was fine. And then in January, I went to have a cardiac CT scan, which is kind of an X-ray of the heart to check out the structure and check out the plumbing.<\/p>\n Content cannot be displayed without consent<\/p>\n \u201cAnd when I got the result of that a couple of weeks later, it was really quite <\/a>bad news which floored me, which was actually the main artery to your heart is pretty much blocked. And of course, you start googling and it was called the left anterior descending artery. Not very helpfully on the internet, it\u2019s often referred to as the widow maker. So, suddenly I was in quite a dark place to be honest, and it was quite stressful for my partner Jenny and the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n It was when he had the straightforward operation to put in a stent that the full extent became clear. Gary said: \u201cThe next thing to do is called an invasive angiogram, where they put a little tube up your wrist, and they fit what\u2019s called a stent.<\/p>\n READ MORE: BBC doctor delivers verdict on antihistamines causing weight gain<\/a>READ MORE: BBC doctor issues ‘little-known’ warning to anyone taking common hay fever tablet<\/a><\/p>\n![\"BBC](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1_solicPNG.png\")
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