They call the kind of heart attack that hit New River resident Keith Webb a widow maker. “That’s because it’s an extremely large heart attack,” said cardiologist Tri Nguyen, MD, director of Noninvasive Cardiology at John C. Lincoln Deer Valley Hospital.

Keith Webb, left, with his cardiologist, Tri Nguyen, MD, director of Noninvasive Cardiology at John C. Lincoln Deer Valley Hospital.

“The left anterior descending artery is a large blood vessel that goes down the front of the heart,” Dr. Nguyen explained. “Keith’s was 100 percent occluded. A piece of plaque ruptured, ripped off the blood vessel wall and created a thrombus, a kind of blood clot. The clot blockage completely shut down blood flow.

“Most people with this condition die,” Dr. Nguyen said.

But Webb is alive because he got care very quickly. “A lot of speed by everyone involved made the difference,” Dr. Nguyen said. “The moral of this story is that if you want to survive and recover, you must take heart attack symptoms seriously and don’t wait to seek help.”

Heart experts like to say that “time equals muscle.” When blood flow stops, heart muscle starts to die. The faster blood flow can be restored, the less damage is done and the more complete recovery is possible. That’s why the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association established a 90-minute standard for hospitals to re-establish blood flow after heart attack patients reach the Emergency Department. If it takes much longer than that, complete recovery is less likely.