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<\/p>\nWHEN Evan Hoyt Wasserstrom woke up panicked and confused in a hospital bed in April 2016, he told his mum he didn't want to die. <\/p>\n
Her answer shocked him: he'd already died. Not once, but eight times, after experiencing a massive 'widow-maker' heart attack. <\/p>\n
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Heart attacks occur when blood supply to the heart is suddenly cut off, usually by a blood clot. <\/p>\n
A 'widow-maker' heart attack is caused by blockage of the largest artery pumping blood to the heart. <\/p>\n
Evan died the first time in his flat in Los Angeles on March 28, after making his first ever call to emergency services. <\/p>\n
He was preparing to take his Labrador Atticus Finch for a walk when he felt a searing, burning pain in his left arm. <\/p>\n
Writing for Insider, Evan described feeling like "the sun [was] burning inside the veins" of his arm and being drenched in so much sweat that it was like he'd gone for a swim fully clothed. <\/p>\n He'd experienced a few panic attacks after moving to LA, but he knew this was different. <\/p>\n After dialling 911 for the first time, Evan told the operator he didn't know if he was having a heart attack or severe panic attack. <\/p>\n When paramedics arrived after a few minutes, Evan flung the door open for them – and swiftly collapsed, with everything around him going black. <\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n He later learned that this was the first time he died, having suffered a massive 'widow-maker' heart attack. <\/p>\n Paramedics were able to revive Evan in the ambulance using defibrillators, but he kept flat-lining. <\/p>\n What ensued was a ping-pong match en route to hospital, where Evan died for 30 or 40 seconds and paramedics started his heart again five times. <\/p>\n Once at Cedars-Sinai Hospital's A&E department, Evan died two more times for two minutes each, bringing his tally up to eight. <\/p>\n He was later rushed into surgery to receive stents – small mesh tubes used to hold open passages of the body like arteries. <\/p>\n The largest artery to Evan's heart was fully blocked, while a second one was 70 per cent clogged. <\/p>\n He was later placed in a medically induced coma and hooked up to a machine that helped his heart beat. <\/p>\n In April, doctors warned Evan's family to expect the worst as they "pulled the plug" and weaned him off the machine. <\/p>\n To their surprise, Evan and his heart "miraculously sprung to life". <\/p>\n He remembers waking up in such a panic that his wrists and ankles needed to be restrained until his mum was allowed in the room and he calmed enough to realise he was in a hospital bed. <\/p>\n Now, Evan gets called Jon Snow and Wolverine after the fictional Game of Thrones and Marvel characters – but he doesn't feel like a superhero. <\/p>\n "Dying eight times is a lonely affair. I don't personally know anyone who has cheated death once, let alone eight times," he said.<\/p>\n "My friends and family think I'm invincible \u2014 but I feel anything but."<\/p>\n He still worries about death despite beating it eight times, but he tries to make the most of his chance at life. <\/p>\n "Knowing that we are all here for just a millisecond, I certainly want to be there for as many people as I can well before my ninth death occurs," he wrote. <\/p>\n A heart attack is a serious medical emergency in which the supply of blood to the heart is suddenly blocked, usually by a blood clot.<\/p>\n You should call 999 and ask for an ambulance if you think you or a loved one is having one. <\/p>\n Symptoms of a heart attack can include:<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/young-woman-pressing-chest-painful-793745735.jpg\")
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