Malcolm suffered a “silent” heart attack which comes without the normal warning signs
Coronation Street star Malcolm Hebden has praised the NHS medics who saved his life after he suffered a massive heart attack last year.
The 78-year-old actor, who plays Norris Cole in the ITV soap, revealed he’d been taken by an emergency ambulance to hospital after his GP listened to his heart when he went with a chest infection.
Speaking to the Blackpool Gazette, Malcolm said: “I was informed by my doctor I had had at least one heart attack. I was sent to hospital, by emergency ambulance to Blackburn hospital and was there one night.
“While there I collapsed and was brought here to Blackpool Victoria – where I was operated on, in a procedure which was described by my surgeon as ‘ground-breaking’.
“The heart attack tore a hole in my heart, they operated and took a chance.”
The procedure saw Malcolm's heart being "wallpapered" to repair the damage using tissue from a cow. Malcom spent weeks in a coma before coming round "some time in January" and eventually being discharged in February.
Malcolm said his care was “brilliant” and added: “Fortunately I didn’t realise how bad it was; I was dying.”
As to whether he’d be returning to Corrie as Norris Cole – one of the show’s most popular characters - Malcolm said that depended on how his recovery went.
Main pic: ITV/REX/Shutterstock
