Man, 41, Has Massive Heart Attack. After He Regains Strength, Wife Shares the Good News: He’s Going to Be a Dad (Exclusive)

NEED TO KNOW

• Stuart Macanliss survived a massive heart attack at 41 and underwent life-saving surgeries, including an LVAD implant
• His wife Sarah discovered she was pregnant during his recovery, giving the couple hope and motivation for his healing
• The couple is now cherishing life with their daughter Vivvi, focusing on creating meaningful memories together as a family

In February 2025, Stuart Macanliss was on an annual ski trip with his wife’s family in Durango, Colo. The 41-year-old hit the slopes for the first two days of the trip, then his back started hurting.

“We thought it was just muscle pain,” says his wife, Sarah Campion, 38, an operations manager in the finance sector.

He took the next day off but skied on the last day of the trip. Later that night, his back was hurting again and he had a stomachache. He missed dinner and took a hot shower instead. “I felt a little better,” says Macanliss, now 42, an IT consultant who lives in Dallas. He was coughing all night, so he slept sitting up in a chair. “I thought maybe it was pneumonia,” he says.

Things were worse the next morning, Feb. 12. As the family was about to leave for the airport, Macanliss collapsed in a chair. “There’s something really wrong,” he told Campion.

“He was white as a ghost. He was really, really white and sweating,” she says. “He couldn’t stop coughing.”

She grabbed the rental car keys so they could go to urgent care. But then she asked, “‘Can you breathe?’ And he was like, “It’s getting kind of hard,’ ” she recalls.

They called 9-1-1.

At the hospital, doctors first suspected pneumonia or bronchitis. But after an echocardiogram, a cardiologist told Campion, “This is a heart attack. We have to take him into surgery immediately.”

She was stunned to learn that her husband had a massive heart attack at only 41. But it was his young age that likely saved him.

“The doctors said, had this been 10 years in the future, he would be gone because the heart attack was that severe,” Campion says. “We were lucky that he’s such a healthy, robust, strong person because he was able to survive.”

Macanliss was put into a medically induced coma. He spent five days in the ICU in Durango before he was taken via medical evacuation flight to Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas.

There, his conditions seemed to stabilize. Doctors woke him from the coma on Feb. 20.

Related Stories

But they were not out of the woods just yet. Due to further complications, Macanliss went into cardiac arrest three days later.

Campion says it was terrifying. “I was right there, I saw it happening, I yelled for help,” she recalls. “Doctors saved his life for the second time.”

He was placed on an ECMO machine for two weeks.

“Stuart Macanliss was in an incredibly dire medical situation. The chance of his survival was none without mechanical support,” Dr. Katharina Fetten, 40, his cardiothoracic surgeon at Baylor University Medical Center tells PEOPLE.

Meanwhile, Campion’s period was late. She took a pregnancy test the day her husband came off the ECMO machine. It was positive.

“I wanted to be able to tell my husband,” she says. “But I wasn’t going to do it right then because I was afraid it would give him another heart attack.”

About two weeks later, after he was able to stand up and take a step on his own, she gave him the good news: She was nine weeks pregnant. The baby was due in October.

“I’m like ‘Oh my God, this is amazing,’ ” Macanliss recalls. “It gave me a whole other reason to really focus and get better.”

Campion said the pregnancy offered the couple new hope for his recovery. “He’s my person,” she says. “He’s the love of my life and the potential of him not being here to help raise our daughter was unimaginable. I only would ever want to have kids with him.”

On April 8, 2025, Macanliss had surgically implanted the Abbott HeartMate 3 LVAD, a long-term, life-extending therapy for patients with advanced heart failure. The mechanical pump helps the heart work more efficiently.

For many people, the LVAD is a temporary bridge to keep them alive long enough to receive a heart transplant. But Macanliss didn’t feel like it was the right time for a transplant.

He didn’t think it would be fair to immediately have a major surgery with a newborn at home, forcing his wife to care for both of them, he says. Plus, he wanted to be a hands-on dad, and the transplant would leave him immunosuppressed and and susceptible to illness once the baby started daycare.

Fortunately, he had another option. Doctors told him that people can live with an LVAD device for about 10 years.

“The amount of time you can have, it’s about the same as a heart,” Macanliss says. “We’re looking to bank as much life as possible.”

While he is open to a transplant in the future, he knows that an LVAD was the right choice.

Sign up for From the Editor, our free weekly newsletter from PEOPLE’s Editor-in-Chief, Charlotte Triggs.

“I was giving myself the best shot and giving our soon-to-be-daughter the best shot for having a father,” Macanliss says.

He was discharged on May 3, after 81 days in the hospital.

That’s when the real work began. He went to outpatient physical therapy three times a week to rebuild muscle and strength he had lost.

“I kept telling them, ‘I want to be able to hold my child when she’s born. So I need to be able to be strong enough to lift a baby,’ “ he says.

He wanted to be able to change diapers and pick up toys dropped on the floor, and push a stroller to the park. “I’m not looking to run a marathon here. I just want to be able to take care of my child,” he recalls thinking.

Vivvi was born in late October 2025, weighing 7 pounds exactly.

“Our daughter is an absolute warrior,” Campion says. “She survived through me not really eating, not sleeping, high stress levels — and she’s healthy and wonderful. We call her the most precious baby in the world and we’re so happy she’s here.”

Macanliss was able to hold his daughter the day she was born. “It was absolutely amazing,” he says.

He changed all the diapers in the hospital, and he changes most of them at home, Campion says. Vivvi goes to daycare three days a week. Two days a week Macanliss stays home and cares for his daughter.

“I want to be a part of her life,” Macanliss says. “I’m really lucky.”

He’s grateful to be able to spend one-on-one time with her. “It’s really important to me,” he says, “Life is short and who knows how long it’ll be.”

At his one-year follow-up appointment, his surgeon said he was doing well.

“He truly defeated all odds,” his cardiologist Fetten says. “Stuart is not only a survivor, but is thriving.”

Doctors still don’t know why a man so young, and seemingly healthy had a massive heart attack; Sarah has asked many times.

“I think the doctors got a little tired of me being like, ‘I don’t understand. We just hiked Zion. How is this happening? He just skied for two days on a ski vacation. How is he having such a massive heart event?’ ” she says.

Doctors say there may be a genetic component; Macanliss is adopted and he doesn’t know his biological family’s medical history. He is undergoing genetic testing now to have answers for their daughter.

To celebrate Macanliss’ first Father’s Day, the new parents traveled to Ireland to attend a Lumineers concert. Vivvi was in tow with a passport and headphones.

“We want to live our lives to the fullest,” Campion says. “We want to cherish every moment we have together and do all the things that we want to do.”