"I stood up to get a bottle of water, and I didn't make it 10 feet before I started hyperventilating. I had to lie down on the floor. I texted my girlfriend and said, "Something's happening to me. Cold sweats. Pain in my chest, but no arm pain. Doesn't feel like a heavy weight." She called 9-1-1. I texted my COO and said, "I'm not coming back to the meeting. Something is wrong." I texted my PR guy."
"Before going into surgery, I was able to talk to my girlfriend and some people who had come to visit. That was when I finally got emotional. Before that, it was all work - still trying to get my PR guy to be ready to do a statement. It was a little irrational because there's a smidge of, perhaps, too much self-importance."
Bruce Adams, a 52-year-old CEO, suffered a severe heart attack during a work meeting at his home office and required emergency bypass graft surgery for five blockages. He spent nine hours in surgery and initially woke in the ICU, then took six months to recover. He continued to worry about organizational communications even before surgery and became emotional when family visited. His leadership team managed operations and a major trade show successfully during his absence. The team's strong performance prompted him to reassess his role and whether his presence remained essential to the organization.
Read at Business Insider
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