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<\/p>\nLeigh Manley was an apparently fit and healthy 39 year-old when he collapsed during his regular session at the gym. What happened next changed his life forever.<\/p>\n
Leigh Manley, with his wife Zoe, before he was diagnosed with a rare heart condition. (Image: Leigh Manley )<\/p>\n
Fitness fan Leigh Manley was running on a treadmill at his local gym, as part of his regular exercise routine, when 5k into the session he collapsed backwards off the machine.<\/p>\n
“It felt like someone had pulled the plug,” he recalls, “I just felt a sudden shift in my energy. If you imagine the plug being pulled from head to toe, it was frightening.”<\/p>\n
Fellow gym-goers at The Gym on Newport<\/a> Road in Cardiff<\/a> rushed to help. They put the 39 year-old father of three into the recovery position until he regained consciousness a few minutes later. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here<\/a><\/p>\n Leigh Manley outside the Senedd on a British Heart Foundation Cymru campign red bench. (Image: British Heart Foundation Cymru)<\/p>\n Leigh says he was unconscious for around three minutes and when he awoke thought he had collapsed due to dehydration. Little did he know he had a rare and potentially fatal heart condition which almost immediately masked what it was.<\/p>\n Ambulance crews arrived and checked him over – but Leigh’s heart had almost immediately gone back to the usual rhythm. It was assumed he had collapsed because of dehydration, in fact his heart beat had sped up so fast it could have killed him.<\/p>\n “They set me up with ECGs and checked my oxygen levels. I was feeling OK and all my vital signs were recorded as normal because immediately my heart had then restored its rhythm.<\/p>\n “They thought maybe I was dehydrated and asked if I wanted to go to hospital, but I didn’t as it was Saturday evening and did not think it was serious, so I said no.<\/p>\n “One of the paramedics gave me a read out of the (normal) ECG reading and recommended I saw my GP.”<\/p>\n When he got home Leigh’s wife Zoe was shocked at how ill he looked. He changed his mind and later went to see his GP.<\/p>\n What followed was months of tests and investigations that led to a life-changing diagnosis of arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM). ACM is a rare genetic condition where the wall of the heart can become weak because the cells of the muscle tissue do not develop as they should.<\/p>\n Leigh, a manager at Admiral, had just started a postgraduate course and had always enjoyed good health and fitness. The diagnosis came as a shock.<\/p>\n “I had never been ill doing exercise and was fit. The cardiologist told me later that my fitness probably saved my life.”<\/p>\n “I felt like I was living someone else’s life. I didn’t really know whether I should cry or not. Everything felt surreal.”<\/p>\n The diagnosis was made even more difficult because Leigh had lost his father to sudden cardiac arrest just 15 months before his own collapse. In the end this turned out to be unrelated to Leigh’s condition.<\/p>\n “It brought everything home. I’d seen first-hand the devastation heart conditions can cause, so I knew I wanted to approach my diagnosis positively and do whatever I could to raise awareness.”<\/p>\n Leigh, pictured with his wife Zoe, was apparently fit and healthy before he collapsed at the gym aged 39.(Image: Leigh Manley)<\/p>\n The decade that followed has been far from straightforward though.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1_AWR_MAI_LeighManley_021026jpg1.jpg\")
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