I'm Colin Dyer. I'm 62 years old.
A retiree. I took early retirement,
and I live in a lovely, sleepy village in Devon.
It was autumn and the leaves were falling everywhere
so I thought, right,
I'm going to rake some of these leaves off the lawn.
I suddenly felt a vicelike pain in my chest.
I felt a little bit dizzy.
It was as though somebody was clamping my chest.
It was a very weird feeling. I knew something wasn't right.
So the very next day I saw my GP and he said,
'I think you should visit the Rapid Access Chest Pain Clinic'.
When I arrived there the cardiologist that I saw said,
'We're going to do angiography, which is looking inside your heart.'
And during that procedure I had a heart attack.
It was a salutary moment in my life because before I had my heart attack
I think I probably lived life a little bit too much to the full
and it was nature catching up on me.
I did eat probably a little bit too much,
I certainly drank a bit.
And the odd cigarette.
I was beginning to develop a fat tummy.
I thought about my lifestyle and knew I had to change.
I've always enjoyed walking.
I often go out on Woodberry Common and local areas by myself.
I really enjoy that.
I go to the gym where I did cardiac rehabilitation.
I go on the treadmill.
I just walk at a pace
that puts a little bit of gentle pressure on my heart
but nothing excessive.
I go to the gym basically to lose 500 calories.
That probably takes me anywhere between 75 minutes
to one and a half hours.
I'm in no rush.
I just want to burn some energy and feel good.
I feel a bit lost if I don't go up there one week.
Colin came to us for his phase four cardiac rehab from phase three.
And he did 10 weeks of once a week activity with us
alongside his walking programme that we was doing at home.
And we just sort of help him along the way, help his confidence,
help him to understand the level that he should be exercising at
in order to get benefit for his heart.
People who have had issues with their heart
tend to be quite nervous and they're a little bit worried
about doing exercise in case they have another event
or something like that.
So you see people grow in confidence,
you see people starting to realise that they can do a bit of exercise
and then you see them getting fitter and realising that every day
things aren't as tough as they were before
and just everything takes them up to a level
where they feel they can go ahead and do it for themselves.
There's so many benefits from just doing a little bit of exercise
and just making your heart a little bit fitter.
If you're hanging out the washing or you're hoovering the floor
or whatever it is you're doing,
being a little fitter and a little more able,
makes all those things a little easier.
And particularly as you get older, if all those things are easier,
you can maintain your independence for longer
and that's a really big deal.
For heart health you can just do some nice, gentle exercise
where you feel you're warmer, you feel like you're exercising
but you can still hold a conversation.
I feel a lot better for it.
I've certainly lost a lot of weight and I find it quite addictive.
They call it endorphins,
you feel good after you've had a session in the gym.
The other thing I enjoy immensely, I've taken up Tai Chi.
I find that's very relaxing and good for various things
such as balance, flexibility of the joints
and building up strength in one's legs.
It's like meditation in motion, isn't it?
It's the little things, they all add up.
Walking, Tai Chi and going up to the gym
I find fits the bill for me.
And I think the results are there,
I've lost a couple of stone.
It's a sense of wellbeing.
A satisfaction that it's good.
I think I wouldn't like to go back to a couch potato style of life
which I was certainly developing into.
It's been a dramatic change in the way I live.
I'd certainly encourage anybody to go out there and find an interest,
a sport or a hobby that gets them on the move.