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Ex-Sheffield Wednesday favourite opens up to Susanna Reid about health scare – and next steps.

Sheffield Wednesday fan favourite Sam Hutchinson has urged people to seek help for chest pains in a national television interview.
The midfield general suffered a heart attack during a must-win final day clash for his current club AFC Wimbledon, remarkably scoring the winner in a 1-0 win at Grimsby Town that booked them a place in the play-offs – a success that eventually saw them promoted back to League One.

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Hutchinson had suffered chest pains from the sixth minute but played through the issue, with the team coach diverting post-match so that he could attend hospital. The EFL play-off weekend was underpinned by their ‘Every Minute Matters’ campaign that encourages football supporters to engage in CPR training.

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Speaking on ITV’s flagship morning magazine show Good Morning Britain, Hutchinson spoke to presenters Susanna Reid and Ed Balls to discuss a remarkable turn of events.

“I don’t score many, so I went crazy, but my chest was really hurting at the time,” he said when asked of his feelings when scoring the Blundell Park winner. “After that I got booked on purpose, because the week before the manager took me off in case I got a red card because it was so important we kept 11 players on the pitch. He kept me on because he felt I was getting stronger and took our captain off instead, which was mental really.

After concerns were raised by Wimbledon’s medical staff, the team bus was diverted to Queens Medical Centre and City Hospital in Nottingham on their way back south, where the now 35-year-old was given treatment and a heart attack was diagnosed. The diagnosis is different to the cardiac arrests suffered by the likes of Christian Eriksen and the former Chelsea man has been reassured he will be able to play again.

“I broke down,” he said. “All I could think about was playing football still, it was all I could think about. It wasn’t that I’d had the heart attack because I played on, so it wasn’t all that serious to me, although it is a massive thing. I just wanted to play football and I didn’t want that to be the end of me playing football.

“It was the first question I asked to the professor who did everything and he said 100% (would be able to play again)… I had a stent fitted, I’ll have to change the valve in a couple of years when I’m finished but other than that I’m good to go. I’m already running.”

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Statistics from the British Heart Foundation reveal heart attacks result in over 100,000 hospital admissions each year, and around 1.4 million people alive today have survived a heart attack. Though Hutchinson spoke in relaxed fashion about his situation, he gave firm advice to anyone who might recognise similar symptoms; dizziness, sweating and a tight chest.

“If you have any chest pains you should stop and get checked out, don’t be stupid like myself,” he said.

“Definitely get checked out. Don’t be stubborn and stupid. I was embarrassed coming off the coach that I was coming off the coach to go to the hospital. I apologised but I was really struggling. Just get checked out, there’s no point in struggling. I was dizzy, sweaty and the chest pain was the real thing. It didn’t stop, it felt like someone was sitting on my chest.”