Parramatta legend David Liddiard has spoken out about a heart attack that almost ended up as a Christmas Eve tragedy.
Liddiard said he was suffering chest pains in the morning but was keen to write them off as indigestion.
He said he thought his breakfast of eggs on toast had brought on the pain but, when the pain persisted, his wife Peta called an ambulance which ultimately saved his life.
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“I’m fortunate to still be here,” Liddiard told News Corp. “It scared the s*** out of me.”
After experiencing the chest pain, Liddiard said he took a common indigestion aid to help, but it didn’t work.
“They took me straight to hospital and told me I was having a heart attack right then and there on the table. If I hadn’t come to hospital, I’d be dead, 100 per cent,” he said.
“The chest pains were very painful. It’s frightening to think (about what could have happened).”
Liddiard took the rugby league world by storm in 1983 where he won the Dally M ‘Rookie of the Year’ award and was also a part of the Eels’ flag-winning team.
Now he is 62 years old, but he’s quick warn others to look after their health.
Liddiard doesn’t smoke, doesn’t drink much, has never done drugs and trains every day.
“It shows you that everyone is vulnerable and everyone must be vigilant in checking up on their health … My arteries were blocked. Don’t take your health for granted. Thankfully, my wife Peta made me come to hospital,” he said.
The premiership hero is certainly one tough cookie.
After playing league for a decade through the 80s and early 90s, and representing Australia, he has a well-documented injury history.
In fact, a recent report suggested he was the most injured player in the sport’s history with a long list of setbacks that sound like lyrics from the Christmas carol, The Twelve Days of Christmas.
Part of his injury history include: two titanium knees, three broken jaws, three broken cheekbones, five broken ribs, seven broken noses, 10 concussions, a shoulder reconstruction, an ankle reconstruction, and stitches to reattach a severed tongue.
Liddiard is at the John Flynn Private Hospital at Tugun and has already heart surgery.
But he’s set to have another procedure on Wednesday (today) and is expected to be in hospital for a week as doctors fix his blocked valves.
