The mayor of Aberdeen is recovering tonight after a heart attack nearly claimed his life.
Mayor Mike Levsen is at Avera Saint Luke's in Aberdeen following an angioplasty surgery Monday.
Levsen now sits in a hospital bed at the hospital after a silent heart attack struck Sunday night.
He says doctors at Avera Saint Luke's identified the problem immediately.
"Well, after I passed out because of shortness of breath and my pulse rate falling, I think it was fairly obvious to them what it was at the time," Levsen said.
Mayor Levsen says the attack struck just after a workout.
He says it was clear there was a problem.
"Anybody who works out a lot is very in tune with the way their body feels and how it feels at various times," Levsen said.
"In Mayor Levsen's case he was fairly active and healthy. He unfortunately had a genetic predisposition to heart disease," Avera St. Luke's Interventional Cardiologist, Navin Gupta.
Soon after arriving at the hospital doctors noticed a blockage in one artery in his heart.
According to Levsen even though he eats healthy and exercises on a regular basis, but heart disease runs in his family.
"Heart disease is unfortunately very common in our society and we are all susceptible to it. What's very important is that we not ignore symptoms and we seek attention should we not feel right," Gupta said.
According to Gupta; 40 percent of heart attacks are fatal and he says it's striking both women and younger people more and more often.
He says getting yourself check out if you have any signs or symptoms of a heart attack is vital.
Gupta says that check up saved Mayor Levsen's life.
