Cecil

Atrial fibrillation

Cardiac arrest

Heart attack

From military service to two heart attacks and cardiac arrest

After surviving the Vietnam War, Cecil thought he’d faced his toughest fight. But heart disease in 2008 proved otherwise. He shares intimate details of his journey, how his whānau saved his life and advice for others battling heart disease.

Unuhia, unuhia
Unuhia ki te uru tapu nui
Kia wātea, kia māmā, te ngākau, te tinana, te wairua i te ara takatā
Koia rā e Rongo, whakairia ake ki runga
Kia tina! Tina! Hui e! Tāiki e!

Draw on, draw on,
Draw on the supreme sacredness
To clear, to free the heart, the body and the spirit of mankind
Rongo, suspended high above us (i.e. in ‘heaven’)
Draw together! Affirm!

Stresses of Vietnam War

“It unknowingly began back in the jungles of Vietnam,” says Cecil. 

A family man with five children, 14 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren, he has always been active. Whether it was his time in the military or running around after his family, he was always on the go. 

While nothing suggested there were any heart issues before his first event in 2008, Cecil believes stress from being a soldier in the Vietnam War as a 19-year-old triggered an underlying issue in his heart. 

“Although I didn’t suffer anything at the time, to me, as the years have gone by that’s where it [heart issues] started. Lying there at night, not making a sound, not knowing what’s going to happen is hell of a lot of stress on you as a person. I was fearful.  

“That would be day in, day out. For six months we were out every night or every day. You’re living your life not knowing whether you’ll see someone tomorrow. And that’s how I tie my heart issues back to those days. 

“We were trained to switch off psychologically, switch off our feelings. I lived in constant fear. When I returned home some would say ‘It’s all over, mate’. But no one ever helped us. From the period 1968 to 1998 there was nothing done to help me as an individual or my team deal with physical and mental trauma.” 
 

Diagnosed with ischaemic heart disease

In 2008, the government decided they would do annual medical assistance for all war veterans. 

That’s when Cecil would learn the truth about his heart. 

He was diagnosed with ischaemic heart disease, also known as coronary artery disease, which is when the main blood vessels supplying your heart with blood narrow due to a build-up of fatty deposits called plaque. 

“They put that down to, not all of it, but down to part of my service in Vietnam,” Cecil says. 

He was also diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which is a progressive lung disease causing breathlessness, coughing and excess mucus, which he says was suspected to have been caused from Agent Orange spray in the war.

Two heart attacks in 2011

The first of Cecil’s heart attacks in 2011 happened while at home with his family.  

“The problem was there were no obvious signs.” 

He didn’t know he had experienced a heart attack. But three weeks later things changed.  

“I didn’t feel too good. I said let me have a shower. Afterwards I just wanted to sleep. My family got concerned and the next morning I was sent to White Cross before I was taken by ambulance to hospital. 

“I went into the ED [emergency department] and the cardiologist had a sense of humour. He said to me ‘Jesus, I hope you’re not going to have another one.’ That’s when he told me that I had one three weeks previously.” 

Cecil was transferred from Whangārei to Auckland Hospital where he had a stent inserted.

Change of lifestyle before more issues in 2014

Following his first two heart attacks in 2011, the now 78-year-old completely revolutionised his lifestyle. 

He admitted smoking and drinking until he had his heart attack but has since gone cold turkey while also taking up swimming. 

“I also did it because of two of my girls who are asthmatic and one had started to smoke. And I thought, oh my God, I have to do something about this.” 

Wanting to look after his health, Cecil decided to retire in 2014 and moved to Whangārei. But his health faced another speed bump. 

An angiogram found that he had suffered a temporary blockage in his arteries. 

“Luckily there was nothing seriously wrong. They released me and put me on certain things like blood thinners and aspirin. I was having breathing issues as well, so I went on inhalers.” 

New heart scare in 2025

Following brain surgery in 2023, Cecil’s family noticed a slight shift. 

“After the brain surgery and repair from that everything was okay, until my family noticed that I was slowing down a wee bit. I put that down to, surprisingly, the fact that I was getting old. In hindsight, the body was starting to tell me, wait, slow down.” 

But on April 15 this year, something changed. Cecil was trying to find a spanner in his shed when he suddenly felt short of breath. 

Barely making it back to the house, he sat down before feeling a pain in his chest. Fortunately, his son, daughter and wife were there.  

“They said call the ambulance. They whipped me away and I had an angiogram. They found I needed another stent and noticed there was insufficient oxygen going into my two bottom chambers of the heart.  

“Those two bottom chambers need at least 50% oxygen. But it was only getting 18% oxygen."

‘My family saved my life’: Cecil’s cardiac arrest

Weeks after Cecil’s stent was inserted, his life flipped on its head. The then 76-year-old suffered a cardiac arrest, where the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating leading to both a loss of consciousness and the absence of normal breathing. 

With every second crucial, his wife and daughter gave CPR, managing to keep him alive. 

Paramedics rushed him to hospital where he underwent emergency surgery.  

“The specialist came out to my wife and he said, ‘I need to tell you he may not walk again. We may not be able to bring him back. He may not even remember anything."

“They lost me twice in ED.”   

After successful surgery and the insertion of a pacemaker, Cecil recalls being told the quick actions of wife and daughter at home saved his life. 

“One of the reasons why I’m still here is because my family saved me. If they were not here, I wouldn’t be sharing my story today.”

Advice

As Cecil comes to terms with his new normal, he hopes his story can convince others to be aware of even the smallest changes in their heart and body. 

“You know your body more than anybody else. If there’s something bothering you, then get checked out. That’s one of the things that helped me.” 

Cecil also praised the assistance of technology to help give context to how people might be feeling if they sense something is off. 

“As soon as I get short of breath now, I am careful and take extra precautions. I have a watch which is linked to my phone, and I can read my heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen level, everything." 

“When I’m feeling a bit weary or tired, I immediately go to my phone and just check my heart rate. You never know what it is. Because one of the conditions that they picked up when I was seen to during one of my earlier incidents was that I had atrial fibrillation."

“If you’re not happy, or if you have some concerns, go check it out. It might save your life.”

What now

Working in the community helps maintain a positive attitude, being involved in sharing knowledge in Hauora Māori and Rongoā Māori to regularly perform the duties of kaumātua.

"Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi" (With your food basket and my food basket, the people will thrive), which highlights collaboration to ensure everyone benefits.