On World Heart Day, we bring you stories your teenage heart attack survivors, why they got heart attacks in the first place, and what could have prevented them from taking place.
Dhruv Sharma* 18 years
Speak to Dhruv for just 2 minutes and you’ll quickly realise he’s like any other teenager – too many balls in the air and eager to get a jump start in life, gunning for a scholarship, tinkering with app-based technology even as he pursues his graduation in Visual Arts at a university in Bangalore. It’s when you ask him about running that you can quite literally feel the unmistakable sadness and utter despondency in his voice – “Yes I do miss running marathons..”, he says speaking haltingly.
Dhruv, an avid marathon enthusiast, had his first heart attack last September at the age of 17 when he was participating in a University marathon. “I felt strain in my chest, I even stopped for a few minutes, but it became severe. That’s when I fell and became unconscious.” When he finally came around he found himself in an ambulance being rushed to the hospital