Richie Mooney (60) does not fit the typical profile of someone who would suffer a heart attack. A non-smoker and non-drinker, he was a competitive swimmer and an Irish Masters record holder when he collapsed with a heart attack following a training session in April 1998. In 1993, he had been diagnosed with diabetes, which may have been the pre-disposing factor.
"I was just getting out of the swimming pool when I went into cardiac arrest and ended up in the James Connolly Memorial hospital in Blanchardstown. I wasn't five minutes there until I had another heart attack. I was even given the Last Rites at one point," explains Mooney.
Within weeks, he had triple-bypass surgery. "All I remember was being wheeled into the theatre and waking up with the lights all around me like you see in ER."
Mooney believes that the cardiac rehabilitation programme he followed at the Mater Hospital was crucial to his recovery.
His determination to swim again was another major factor. "I found it very difficult to get back into the pool even though swimming had been half of my life. My wife, Mary, was my greatest support. She encouraged me to go to the pool and start swimming again.
"If you don't decide to take things back on after an operation like this, you will have no quality of life," he says. Following the all-clear from his consultant, Mooney returned to the swimming pool 16 weeks after his bypass operation. "I only did half a width of the pool to begin with. You can imagine how that felt." Then, day by day, he built up his confidence in the pool as his physical strength grew. He takes tablets to keep his blood sugar levels under control, as well as cholestrol-lowering tablets and an aspirin a day to keep his blood thin. Two and a half years after the operation, Mooney returned to competitive swimming and is now on the Irish Masters team with the Aer Lingus masters swimming club. He has won four gold medals in his age category in the last six months. "I never thought I would step up on the blocks of a master tournament again, let alone win a gold medal," says Mooney, maintenance supervisor in The Irish Times.
And has he changed his outlook? "It is such a total shock to have a heart attack. I would say that I live for the moment now and don't worry about what's down the road. Before I had the heart attack, I would worry about competitions during the two weeks before the event. Now, it doesn't matter who is in the race. I have very little nerves.
"But it took a lot of determination and willpower to get back to where I am now. The biggest problem in the beginning is thinking about yourself too much. It's best to get back to normality as quickly as you can. Otherwise, it will only get harder as time goes on."