A chance conversation and swift action quite possibly saved Joe West’s life.

The 63-year-old certified welding contractor from Shannon admittedly “lives life to the fullest.”

“I’m the kind of person who works as hard as I possibly can for as long as I can,” he says. “A heart attack was never on my radar.”

Warning Signs & Wise Words

On Aug. 25, 2025, Joe started his Sunday like every other, attending church with his family. Then he and his wife, Angie, took their grandchildren to lunch and to run a few errands. They ran into friends and, while chatting about hunting and fishing, their friends told them about a family member who had been scheduled for a heart procedure. 

“My friend’s wife told me, ‘if you ever have chest pain and it doesn’t go away, you need to get to the ER,’” Joe says. “For some reason, her words stuck with me.”

That afternoon, Joe tackled some yardwork. While trimming weeds, his chest started hurting. “I thought it was indigestion – even though I never have heartburn,” he recalls, chalking it up to the barbecue ribs he had for lunch. “I took a lot of Tums that afternoon, but it never went away.”

Around midnight, Joe took more Tums. “I still didn’t think there was much to it,” he says, “but I remembered her words about getting to the ER.” 

Then nausea set in too. When Joe woke up Angie, who is a retired nurse, and finally told her about his symptoms, she said, “Get in the car. Let’s go!’”

On to the ER

Upon arrival, the ER team Immediately sprang into action. “They met us with a wheelchair, and it was ON,” he says. 

Joe had an urgent request for cardiologist Dr. Michael Boler. “My grandsons were finally playing on the same football team, and they had their first football game that Tuesday night,” he says. “I told him,

‘I really need to make that game. If this turns out to be something, could we put off treatment ‘til after Tuesday?’ Dr. Boler said, ‘You’re having a heart attack, and we can’t put it off, but we’re going to make sure you make the rest of their games.”

Joe was experiencing a widowmaker heart attack, a life-threatening blockage in the left anterior descending artery that supplies blood to the heart. Without immediate treatment, the damage could be deadly.

They rushed him to the Cath Lab, where Dr. Boler inserted a catheter, opened the blockage with a balloon and placed two stents to keep the artery clear.

Recovery & Reinvention

After only a few days in the hospital and recovering at home, Joe was back at work, church and grandparenting with renewed purpose. 

“I started eating right and walking for exercise every day,” he says. “By the time I went back for second checkup, I had made a 100% turnaround. I have lost 30 pounds, and my blood pressure and cholesterol numbers are inside the mark.”

Although Joe missed his grandsons’ first football game of the season, swift action and expert care ensured he’ll be around for many seasons to come.