As American Heart Month continues, Apple has a heartwarming story to tell about how an Apple Watch gift may have saved the life of a 58-year-old man named Bob March.
In a letter addressed to a medical team performing a heart procedure on Bob, he thanked the staff performing the operation and mentioned the Apple Watch for bringing him to the operating table in the first place.
Unlike many of your patients, I had no idea that fate would bring us together today. Friday, after a three-mile run with my dog, I went to Providence for an examination because I noticed my pulse rate was very high on the Apple Watch, my wife played me for your anniversary. After a standard ECG, I was in an ambulance ten minutes later and on my way here. The rest of my journey now rests in your capable hands.
The heart procedure took place last fall shortly after Lori March donated her husband Bob the Apple Watch for their 17th anniversary. It didn’t take long for the Apple Watch to become a valuable purchase:
Bob, a former college-level athlete who also ran half marathons as an adult, immediately began exploring his new Apple Watch. He discovered the Heart Rate app and although he was relaxed, his first reading showed 127 beats per minute. It was high for Bob, but he brushed it off like a lucky shot.
“I thought ‘it’s nut’, ‘says Bob. “If I was running or cooling down, I would definitely hit numbers like that.”
It appears that an arrhythmia has overworked Bob’s heart and that it would be the cause of a stroke if left untreated. Fortunately, a heart ablation procedure resolved the health care, but only because the symptoms were indicated in time by the Apple Watch.
In the years since Apple introduced the Apple Watch and invested in its health monitoring features, we’ve seen numerous stories like these that describe how devastating outcomes have been avoided.
Read more from Bob’s story here and learn how Apple Watch saves lives in our Apple Health Guide.
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