Father remembers a symptom he ignored before Widowmaker’s heart attack

A 48-year-old father of two who says he is “the bloom of life” describes the symptoms he experienced before a near-fatal heart attack.

Speaking to Today, Chris Prewitt said he had just finished a personal training workout when he noticed his triceps, biceps and chest were “all incredibly sore.” Prewitt, who told the outlet he regularly does cardio and CrossFit exercises, wasn’t immediately concerned.

However, a sports medicine doctor at the training facility advised him to go to the emergency room anyway. After calling his wife, Prewitt got in his car, freezing and graying. His wife was concerned and drove to the emergency room – a decision that ultimately saved his life.

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“She missed the emergency room exit and got off the highway, and I slumped over in my seat,” Prewitt tells the outlet. “She had never seen anyone with gray hair like that, and she grabbed my hand. It was freezing. My heart stopped.”

As it turned out, Prewitt had suffered a heart attack and “a single artery was completely blocked,” he tells Today.

“The artery is the left anterior descending artery… the widowmaker,” he adds.

After cardiopulmonary resuscitation, a dozen defibrillator shocks, and a transfer to the Cleveland Clinic with a cardiac catheterization lab, Prewitt regained consciousness about 24 hours later.

The fact that Prewitt had suffered a heart attack was a surprise given his apparently healthy and physical condition.

“I’m often seen as the paragon of health,” he tells Today. “I do everything you’re supposed to do.”

However, the physically active businessman showed several symptoms prior to his heart attack – primarily fatigue, which he attributed to his age.

The father of a nine-year-old and a six-year-old told the outlet that he noticed that he often needed a break after work “before we go play baseball or play soccer in the yard.”

Somewhat concerned, Prewitt had visited the doctor three times in the months before his heart attack and had blood tests done. Nothing, he tells the outlet, seemed out of the ordinary.

“I didn’t have any markers. My total cholesterol seemed fine,” he tells Today. “I didn’t have any real health problems other than being tired.”

What Prewitt hadn’t known before his own incident was the history of heart problems in his family. He knew that one grandfather had had two bypass surgeries, but he didn’t know that his other grandfather had died at age 49 – from a widow-maker heart attack like the one he had suffered.

Speaking to PEOPLE, Prewitt says he is doing better now than he did before the heart attack. “I’ve always been an active and busy person, but before the heart attack, it was really hard to find energy and motivation. I can’t describe how good I feel today. It’s been an incredible journey, and now that my cardiovascular system is working the way it should, I can go back to doing the things I’m used to and feel normal again,” he says.

He adds that the experience made him realize how grateful he is to the medical staff at Cleveland Clinic who saved his life.

“I owe a lifetime of gratitude to the Cleveland Clinic and the healthcare workers who saved my life, and life has taught me that gratitude is an action word,” says Prewitt. “I am incredibly grateful to my wife, children, family, friends and everyone who helped me recover and, of course, saved my life. I am confident that by sharing this story, I can impact even just one life.”