When news broke earlier this year that beloved Kiwi entertainer Jason Gunn had been admitted to hospital following a heart attack, his medical emergency was described as “minor”.
However, as the More FM host and wife Janine reveal exclusively in this week’s New Zealand Woman’s Weekly, Jason’s heart attack was anything but minor.
“After the press release went out, one of the cardiologists came in to see me,” Jason says.
“He goes, ‘Look, Jason, I need to put something right – I read in the paper that you’d had a minor heart attack. You’ve actually had a severe heart attack’. I was like, oh. Wow. This is surreal!”
Now on the road to recovery 10 weeks after the terrifying incident, Jason admits he never expected himself to be at risk of heart problems, however a family history he was only vaguely aware of caught up with him – and he’s now urging others to look into their own families medical records.
“For God’s sake people, please, check it out,” he says.
While he’s expected to make a full recovery with no lasting damage, he does admit he feared for his life three times the day he was hospitalised, where doctors discovered that one of his main arteries was completely blocked.
The experience has put things into perspective, Jason nods – which is also true for his wife of 21 years Janine, who works with the broadcaster at the production company they own, Whitebait studios in Christchurch.
“We dodged a bullet,” she says.
For more, including the changes Jason is making following his brush with death and what he’s planning on giving up, see this week’s issue of New Zealand Woman’s Weekly, out now.
