Dad, 48, Recalls Symptom He Ignored Ahead of Near-Fatal 'Widowmaker' Heart Attack: I Was a 'Picture of Health'

Chris Prewitt suffered a widowmaker heart attack despite being physically active and seemingly "the picture of health"

A 48-year-old father of two who says he was the "picture of health" is recounting the symptoms he had ahead of a widowmaker heart attack that nearly proved fatal.

Speaking to Today, Chris Prewitt says that he had just completed a personal training workout when he noticed that his triceps, biceps and chest "were all incredibly sore.” Prewitt, who tells the outlet he regularly does cardio and CrossFit exercises, wasn't immediately concerned.

But a sports medicine doctor at the workout facility advised him to go to urgent care anyway. After a call to his wife, Prewitt got in the car and started growing cold and turning gray. His wife, worried, drove to the emergency room — a decision that would ultimately save his life.

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Related: Triathlete, 38, Survives After ‘Widow Maker’ Heart Attack Leaves Him 'Dead for Several Minutes' During Race

“She missed the exit for the urgent care and gets off the highway, and I’m slumped over in my seat,” Prewitt tells the outlet. “She’d never seen anyone this gray, and she grabbed my hand. It was ice cold. My heart had stopped.”

Prewitt, it turned out, was having a heart attack and had "one single artery that was completely blocked,” he tells Today.

“The artery is the left anterior descending artery … the widowmaker," he adds.

Prewitt regained consciousness some 24 hours later, following CPR, a dozen defibrillator shocks and a transfer to Cleveland Clinic facility with a cardiac catheterization laboratory.

That Prewitt had suffered a heart attack was a surprise, considering how physically fit and healthy he seemed to be.

“I am often thought of as a picture of health,” he tells Today. “I do all the things you’re supposed to do.”

But the physically active business executive did have some symptoms leading up to the heart attack — most noticeably fatigue, which he chalked up to getting older.

The dad to a 9-year-old and 6-year-old tells the outlet he noticed that he would often need a break after work "before we go play baseball or kick a soccer ball around the yard.”

Related: Mom, 40, Had a Widowmaker Heart Attack — This Unusual Symptom Led to Her Diagnosis

Slightly worried, Prewitt had seen a doctor, undergoing bloodwork three times in the months leading up to his heart attack. Nothing, he tells the outlet, seemed amiss.

“I had no markers of any kind. My total cholesterol seemed to be okay,” he tells Today. “I had no real health issues other than being tired.”

What Prewitt hadn't been aware of prior to his own episode was his family's history of heart issues. He knew that one grandfather had undergone two bypass surgeries, but did not know that his other grandfather had died at age 49 — of a widowmaker heart attack like the one he had.

Speaking to PEOPLE, Prewitt says he is now feeling better than he did before the cardiac event. "I have always been an active and busy person, but it was really tough to find energy and motivation prior to the heart attack. I cannot describe how well I feel today. It's been an amazing journey, and now that my cardiovascular system is operating like it should, I have been able to resume doing the things I am accustomed to and feel back to normal," he says.

He adds that the experience taught him how thankful he is for the healthcare workers at the Cleveland Clinic who saved his life.

"The Cleveland Clinic and the healthcare workers who saved my life, I owe a lifetime debt of gratitude, and life has taught me that gratitude is an action word," Prewitt says. "I am incredibly grateful for my wife, my children, my family, friends, all who have aided in my recovery and of course, saving my life. I am hopeful that by sharing this story I can impact even one life."

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