Nitin Sawhney—known for collaborations with iconic stars such as Paul McCartney, Sting, Sinéad O’Connor—revealed a recent scary medical emergency where he was “rushed to hospital.” It turns out that Sawhney had a heart attack.
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Sawhey had fans worried in a series of tweets on March 4. He said he was “about to go through something pretty major.” The musician also asked for his followers to “Wish me luck.” Now, Sawhney is ready to talk about what exactly happened.
In another social media post, Sawhney “decided to explain [himself].”
“A few days ago, out of nowhere, I had a heart attack. Nuts…,” he wrote. “I was rushed to hospital and the NHS put a stent in one of the arteries leading to my heart, after which I was kept in to await a similar operation (which I was referring to in my quoted post) on another artery.”
Fortunately, Sawhney said that he is on the mend. The musician highlights that he will need another operation next month, but he’s taking things one day at a time.
Sawhney continued, “Both ops have gone well and the NHS were fantastic. I will need a third, bigger operation next month but one day at a time I reckon… I weight train 3-4 times a week, regularly kick-box, eat healthily and had no history of heart disease.”
However, despite Sawhney’s attempts to stay healthy, doctors told the musician that the heart attack likely happened due to genetics.
“When I spoke to the doctor, he said it was probably a genetic predisposition… Basically, as a British Asian I have a significantly higher likelihood of cardiovascular disease or heart attacks. My dad had a triple heart bypass, my mum has had two attacks and three of my uncles had heart attacks with one dying on the spot,” he said.
Nitin Sawhney Talks Heart Attack
Sawhney described the heart attack as terrible. It felt like he had an elephant sitting on his chest, and he couldn’t breathe. He said, “Your chest feels like someone is sitting on your chest holding a 200kg weight and your head feels like it’s spinning out of control as you struggle to remain conscious.
“In my case, I completely blacked out, falling onto a glass ornament from a standing position, smashing the coffee table with my face as I collapsed into a pool of blood and broken shards, penetrating both cheeks, my nose and the area just beneath my eyes,” he continued. A surgeon had to carefully remove the glass from his face afterward.
Sawhney announced that he was pushing back all of his shows. “The point is there has been an alarming rise in fatalities from heart disease recently.. particularly amongst British Asians. So… if you are Asian or, to be honest, in any vulnerable group… get your heart health checked out,” he said. “It could save your life. You might not see something like this coming… I didn’t.”
[Photo by John Phillips/Getty Images for BFI]
