FORMER Castleford, Sheffield and Halifax star Quentin Laulu-Togaga’e has opened up on the heart attack he suffered just over a year ago.
Laulu-Togaga’e, known as QLT, was forced into retirement due to the heart attack, bringing down the curtain on a career that spanned 13 years in the UK.
The livewire playmaker scored 181 tries in 228 times for Sheffield across two spells, but he has no reflected on the moment that almost cost him his life.
“It was just any other day. We had three days off over Christmas and I went with the boys to the gym,” QLT told BBC Radio Leeds.
“We did a weights session and after that, we did a cardio session and it was just after the cardio that my chest started hurting.
“It just felt like a crushing feeling and something I’ve never experienced, but the whole time I just thought it was heartburn. Never in my life did I think that I’d be having a heart attack.”
QLT explained that only after being begged by his wife to seek medical help did the fullback make his way to the hospital.
“It gradually got worse but I went home and my wife knew that something was wrong. She begged me to go to the hospital but I said no and then it wasn’t until the pain went to my jaw and my right arm that I knew something was wrong.
“She had to drive me to Pontefract Hospital which is just down the road. They didn’t really know what was happening so they transferred me to Wakefield Hospital.
“I got there and they did all the testing and then the cardiologist told me ‘you need be rushed to Leeds Hospital for an emergency procedure. You’ve been having a heart attack for four hours and your right artery is blocked.’
“That was the realisation when I knew it was serious, but still to this day, I’m still doing tests to try and find out why it happened because they can’t really pinpoint why.
“They told me that another hour or so then my body would have shut down and they also felt that if I wasn’t as fit as I was at the time then my body wouldn’t have been able to take as much. I’m extremely lucky.”
