SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Gregg Bell is perhaps the last person you\u2019d expect to have a heart attack.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s a personal fitness trainer who owns his own gym, Nexxt Fit, and is a former professional triathlete.<\/p>\n
So when he heard paramedics say, \u201che\u2019s having a heart attack,\u201d while he was lying on a stretcher in the back of an ambulance, Bell asked who they were talking about.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went from feeling like, you know, a world-class cyclist to, \u2018Oh my gosh, I gotta take a nap,\u2019\u201d Bell recalled.<\/p>\n
He was cycling through the King William neighborhood when he stopped in a patch of grass to lie down.<\/p>\n
After Bell propped his bike up next to a tree near the intersection of Beauregard and King William streets, he fell backward.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s when the couple was walking down the street, said, \u2018Do you need help?\u2019 I don\u2019t even remember seeing them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The woman in that couple would later tell him he stared at her with his eyes wide open for two minutes, unresponsive. So she called 911.<\/p>\n
Bell believes the quick thinking of the man and woman, and their willingness to help, saved his life that day in July.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I would have stayed here just 10 more minutes, that\u2019s when my heart stopped,\u201d he said. \u201cThe right side was beating so hard, it started fibrillating; it stopped. But I was already at the hospital, already strapped up. They shocked me back, unplugged the blockage, and I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bell doesn\u2019t remember much about his helpers, other than the blue Tesla they were driving. He hopes someone will see his story and help connect him with the couple so he can thank them personally.<\/p>\n
Bell also hopes his story serves as a wake-up call for others to pay attention to their heart health and family history.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a few warning signs that week,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
His blood pressure had been higher than normal in the days before his heart attack, but Bell blew it off.<\/p>\n
He also urges others to consider their own family history.<\/p>\n
Bell has a history of heart problems that he calls \u201ckind of a demon” that motivated him to stay in shape.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I should have rested more,\u201d he said. \u201cYeah, I exercised enough, but I didn\u2019t rest enough. And so people need to know their family history; they need to check the blood pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bell spent a week in the hospital and has slowed down his pace in life.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeven days in the hospital changes your life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n