‘Sense of impending doom’: How an ad saved a runner from a devastating heart attack

Published: 13 February 2026

When Palmerston North runner Martin Boult crossed the finish line of the 10km Rotorua ‘Run the Forest’ event in August, he didn’t know he was hours away from a potentially devastating heart attack.

What saved him, he says, wasn’t luck - it was a television advertisement on heart attack warning signs that flashed back into his mind at just the right moment.

The 61-year-old, tall, slim, lifelong runner, doesn’t fit the typical image of a heart attack patient. “I’m not the poster boy for heart conditions,” he says.

“I’ve always been active - swimming, cycling, running four times a week. So, when I started feeling off during the run, I didn’t think heart attack.”

At the seven-kilometre mark of the Rotorua Forest Run on August 9, 2025, he began to feel unwell. By the time he returned to his hotel, exhaustion and an unsettling sense that “something was wrong” crept in. 

“I jumped into the shower, and it was then I remembered the advertisement by the Heart Foundation that said the worst thing you can do if you’re feeling unwell is to just lie down or take a shower. I thought, ‘You idiot, what am I doing? Go get checked.’”

(Martin is referring to is a Heart Foundation heart attack warning sign advertisement where the actor feels chest discomfort and shoulder pain. Instead of calling for help, he has a hot shower and ignores the warning signs of a heart attack)

Seeing how pale Martin looked, his wife gave him a choice: head to Whakatāne to visit friends as planned or go to the hospital.

“I said, ‘I think I need to go get checked.’ I’m very fortunate I decided to go to hospital. Who knows what would have happened if we carried on our journey.”

At Rotorua Hospital, doctors quickly detected elevated troponin levels - an enzyme that signals heart injury. “My cardiologist later said, ‘You came in early - that’s major.’ My troponin was low but rising fast. Another hour or two and things could’ve been a lot worse.”

Boult was transferred to Wellington Hospital the next day, where an angiogram confirmed a serious cardiac event. Within 48 hours, he was home, feeling lucky but shaken. 

“I’m still wrapping my head around it. Physically, I’m recovering - mentally, that’s been the harder journey.”

Since then, he’s joined Think Hauora’s post-cardiac rehab classes, learning about medication, and is working with a Physiologist building confidence to return to exercise. “You feel a bit fragile afterwards. I’m nervous about doing too much, but the classes and support from the Think Hauora team have helped enormously.”

He’s eased back into movement, and returned to helping guide Achilles runners, a group for athletes with disabilities and vision impairments. “It gets me moving again at a manageable level and reminds me I’m not broken.”

Martin’s biggest message is awareness: heart attacks don’t always announce themselves with clutching chest pain. 

“There is a sense of impending doom that people get when they have a heart event, a fear they’re going to die. You get this feeling of something is really wrong with me. That’s the feeling I had. I wasn’t in massive pain or going to vomit or faint. I was just not feeling right.

“People, especially men, think it’s only a crisis if you get stabbing chest pain, collapse or can’t breathe. I just felt off. That’s the danger zone, because it’s so easy to ignore.”

Doctors told him bluntly: had he driven to Whakatāne that afternoon, his outcome might have been different.

“It’s sobering to think how close it was. One small decision changed everything.”

He hopes sharing his story will make others pause. “That ad kept nagging at me, and I’m grateful it did. If you’re not feeling right, get checked.”

Martin shares his story as part of the Big Heart Appeal which takes place in February 2026, in the hope that New Zealanders will continue supporting the heart research that saves lives every day.