Everyone laughed when Aldo Speziale nearly rode his motorcycle into a letterbox, unaware it was a precursor to a fatal heart attack that night.
His daughter Marina Speziale, 56, of Cairns, Queensland, shares her family's stories about the need to get a heart check, as the federal government is called upon to help fund a national cardiovascular screening program in the 2024-25 budget. Under the Heart Foundation's proposed program, GPs would formally ask at-risk patients to go in for a heart health check, rather than have people voluntarily ask for one.
About 18,000 people die of heart disease in Australia each year.
Marina remembers Aldo, an Italian migrant living in Innisfail, as fit and healthy, never smoked, rarely drank, a fitness fanatic, and much-loved by the local soccer and wider community. He was also one to never go to a doctor.
His fatal heart attack in a medical centre in September 2011 was a shock, but there were signs; he had complained about feeling unwell and finding it hard to breathe in the days prior.
One morning, he got on his motorbike, and nearly wiped out the letterbox on the way out. There was nothing serious about the near-miss and everyone laughed.
That night, he felt unwell again, and while he refused offers of an ambulance, he agreed for his wife Paola to drive him to hospital. There, he had a massive and fatal heart attack.
The family later found out Aldo's illness in the nights prior were symptoms of him having smaller heart attacks in the lead-up to that final, larger one.
In 2019, Paola had a Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection (SCAD) heart attack, which occurs when a split or separation suddenly develops between the layers of the wall of one of the blood vessels (artery) that provides blood flow to the heart.
Conscious of her family's history, Marina got a heart health check and found out she has a bundle branch block (BBB), a condition where there's a delay in the heart's electrical impulses pathway. Like many with the condition, she hasn't had any issues. But for others, it can lead to fatigue, shortness of breath, chest discomfort, dizziness, or fainting.
"(Dad's experience) made me want to make sure that I was OK and to take proactive steps to make sure I was going to be OK," she said.
"You might think you're fit and healthy, but like dad, it doesn't necessarily mean you can't have a heart attack."
