Sadiq Khan has stated that he experienced a possible heart attack while attending the COP26 climate summit.
In his new book Breathe, London Mayor Sadiq Khan discusses the incident for the first time.
Mr Khan stated that he was speaking at the United Nations meeting in Glasgow in 2021 when “out of nowhere, I felt a knot in my chest – a kind of tightening”.
He writes, “It was COP26 in Glasgow, and I seemed to be having a heart attack.”
“My shirt was drenched with sweat and I felt like I was on fire,” the Labour politician recalled, adding that he had to be “carried off the stage” while “barely conscious.”
Following the health scare on November 10, 2021, Mr Khan spent the night at A&E at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, where he received an electrocardiogram (ECG), a chest X-ray, and blood tests.
He stated that tests revealed “a protein called troponin, which is released into the blood following unusual heart activity.”
The troponin levels were “borderline” in the first test, but had doubled in the second.
Mr Khan only went to the hospital after his mayoral health advisor, Dr Tom Coffey, called him at 10 p.m., after initially refusing to call an ambulance.
Mr Khan, who is running for a third term in office, continued, “I would advise anyone reading this to look after their physical fitness and mental fitness, because I’d gotten into the bad habit of eating late at night, often unhealthy food, and sacrificing exercise for work.”
“Get checked out; I have regular check-ups with my heart expert, as well as regular check-ups with someone about the mental challenges I face, and I feel better for it.”