Ant Lewis, 46, is recovering after having a pacemaker fitted – and looking forward to seeing Hull City play in the Premier League
Ant Lewis with his wife, Abigail(Image: Ant Lewis)
A lifelong Hull City supporter who had his ticket and was set to see his football heroes play at Wembley had all his plans thrown into disarray by a sudden major health scare. Ant Lewis, of Pickering Road, Hull, had just begun a family holiday near Bath, intending to be back home and ready to attend the Championship play-off final with his friends, when his heart “stopped beating six times in one day”.
Ant, 46, husband of Abigail and dad to daughters Arabella, three, and Aubree, one, had previously been fitted with a heart loop monitor – a device that is implanted to continually record heart rhythms – about two years ago after some health issues that doctors still had not diagnosed, he said. The holiday had never really got started when Castle Hill Hospital, to which information was being relayed from Ant’s monitor, contacted him to say episodes of his heart not beating had shown up.
Abandoning what should have been a five-day break, the family began making their way home, with Abigail driving. “We decided we should drive back to Hull and get me admitted.”
It was when Ant keeled over in the passenger seat, and came round again, on the M6 that they ended up pulling into services, with the advice from Castle Hill to call an ambulance rather than continuing their journey. “I was blue-lighted to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, which was 20 minutes away,” said Ant. “Within 36 hours I had a pacemaker fitted; that was last Tuesday.”
The operation followed a diagnosis for Ant, who is the cousin of Tigers legend Dean Windass, of sinus node dysfunction. The pacemaker operation to correct it (the monitoring device was also removed) has left Ant “feeling like my arm has been taken off and put back on again” and means six weeks of recovery, and no lifting of his arms, which scuppered his chances of joining his mates at Wembley.
He is also missing out on cuddles with his girls as he cannot lift them. “They don’t really understand what’s going on; Arabella keeps saying, ‘why was Mummy shouting your name and trying to wake you up?’ and she has told the teachers at her nursery and she is getting extra cuddles there.’”
Ant said he was “devastated” not to be at the promotion-winning game, but he said: “I’m a lucky guy, I’m alive. I’m just glad I’m still here for my two little girls and my wife.”
Ant said one of the episodes saw his heart stop beating for 40 seconds. “They said I should have gone into cardiac arrest, but for how fit I am for 46 – I’m still playing football.
“My heart stopped beating six times in one day. It stopped beating when I was in bed, at 3am and 5am.”
Ant was hospitalised with a perforated bowel about two-and-a-half years ago. It was after he was discharged that he began suffering “collapses” – “I had 15 in six months”.
He said: “They told me I had epilepsy. I paid privately for a second opinion and they said, ‘I’d see a cardiologist’.”
Season pass-holder Ant said: “I’ve been a Tigers fan since I can remember. All my friends were at Wembley – we all sit together in the East Stand at home games and we’ve been to every game this season.
“They were sending pictures to me and saying ‘it’s not the same without you’. At least I’ll get to see the Tigers play in the Premier League.”
Ant said: “Now it’s a case of me getting my confidence back. You still think it’s going to happen.
“I can’t work at the moment – although I am allowed to drive again, just. I’ve had a cleaning company for 30 years, I started it when I was 15 – we clean anything and everything around Hull.
“It’s having that good reputation, for being reliable and being honest. I’ve had messages from a lot of my customers who have donated money into my account to help me financially while I recover, which is so nice.
“During Covid, we did little bits of shopping for certain customers who were scared to go out, that sort of thing. When we had the girls, people gifted us money for them. I’ve had messages nearly every day seeing if I am okay.
“I had insurance with Parkdean Resorts for the holiday and they have given us a voucher that we can use and we will probably put it towards a caravan break.”
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