Vancouver radio host suffers a heart attack, praises health workers for saving his life

You may not hear morning radio show host Drex on Jack 96.9 for the next few weeks as he recovers from a heart attack.

Drex told Daily Hive that while he was home alone on Friday evening, he started to feel “a little strange” after dinner.

“I felt like I needed to throw up first,” he said.

He eventually decided to lie down but says that’s when he experienced extreme chest pain. He was unsure about why he felt that way.

After he couldn’t reach his husband over the phone, he called a friend who told him to hang up and immediately call 911 — which he did.

In 10 minutes, firefighters arrived to his home and an ambulance followed shortly after.

An assessment at the hospital determined Drex had a heart attack.

 

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The radio DJ received a stent in his artery within the first hour he reached the hospital.

“It’s just incredible the fact that they moved out so quickly,” he said.

Later in the week, Drex will have a second stent put in “because I’ve got an 80% blockage in a different artery.”

He said he expected to be off work for the next four to six weeks.

Since being hospitalized, Drex shared online that he had a heart attack, prompting thousands to wish him a speedy recovery.

He added there were some people that asked, “why did you tweet anything?”

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To that, he responded by saying, “People need to understand that this happens to people every single day of the year. But it’s rarely seen happening to somebody who’s in the media. So I think when this sort of thing does happen, it’s good to talk about it because it normalizes going, ‘hey, this thing’s happening.”

He added it was especially crucial as a reminder for men to be aware of the signs of heart disease.

According to 2017–2018 data from the Public Health Agency of Canada, men are twice as likely to suffer a heart attack than women.

“I really appreciate the fact that three levels of healthcare saved my life on Friday,” Drex told Daily Hive. “Firefighters are horrifically underrated for the work they do … and BC paramedics are also underrated … [as they] save people’s lives on a daily basis. And to get into a hospital where everyone drops everything just to help you is pretty astounding.”