Brad Gregor had a restless night of sleep on Sept. 18, 2017. The 48-year-old woke up at 5 a.m. with some chest pain and didn’t feel right. He thought he’d try and take a shower so he could get to work. After he showered, he fell to his knees. His wife, Debbie, knew something was wrong and decided they were going to the hospital. Brad was in denial. He didn’t think he was having a heart attack...he couldn’t be. He was young, exercised regularly and didn’t have high blood pressure.

He was told later how lucky he was and that he literally had minutes to get care or his outcome would have been very different. His artery was 99 percent blocked.

Mayo Clinic Health System in New Prague honors Brad Gregor for sharing his story. Thank you to Brad and Debbie for sharing the importance of emergency medical care close to home.