Derry business leader Stephen Kelly has spoken candidly about surviving a heart attack while on holiday in Spain earlier this year.

Stephen, aged 54, said he believed he was ‘indestructible’ before he suffered the heart attack in March 2026 when he was on a short break in Alicante with his wife Carol to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary.

Sharing his story in order to raise awareness of cardiovascular illness the Manufacturing NI Chief Executive said that before his heart attack he was being treated for high cholesterol and high blood pressure and admits that his lifestyle was unhealthy.

Stephen says: “I thought my general health had always been good. I played golf twice a week and went to the gym twice a week. But I had a busy life and a bad lifestyle – a poor diet, poor sleep, smoking, high blood pressure and cholesterol.

Manufacturing NI Chief Executive Stephen Kelly suffered a heart attack while on a short break in Alicante with his wife Carol to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary. Stephen shared his story of living with cardiovascular disease as part of British Heart Foundation’s ‘Keep Us Beating’ campaign. He is pictured on an iconic BHF red bench at Titanic Belfast.

placeholder image — Manufacturing NI Chief Executive Stephen Kelly suffered a heart attack while on a short break in Alicante with his wife Carol to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary. Stephen shared his story of living with cardiovascular disease as part of British Heart Foundation’s ‘Keep Us Beating’ campaign. He is pictured on an iconic BHF red bench at Titanic Belfast.

“I knew the advice about lifestyle changes, but I thought I was young enough and immune to serious illness. Until something happened, I didn’t deal with it.”

During the anniversary break, Stephen initially thought he had trapped wind or indigestion. When the discomfort did not ease, he fainted twice and then collapsed again in the shower.

His wife called an ambulance, and paramedics confirmed that he had experienced a myocardial infarction — a heart attack.

Stephen said: “The key message for me is that none of the things that happened felt like a heart attack. I thought a heart attack was someone grabbing their chest and falling to the floor. Mine was indigestion, a cold sweat, and then collapsing.”

Doctors found that the artery on the right-hand side of his heart was completely closed, with a partial closure in another artery. Stephen underwent two procedures and had five stents fitted.

He added: “I feel very lucky. This could have happened while I was alone in a hotel room as I travel a lot with work. Instead, I was with my wife, who got help immediately.”

Sixty-five red benches have been unveiled across the UK as part of the campaign in tribute to people living with cardiovascular disease and to create spaces where survivors can talk openly about their experiences.

Over 230,000 people in the North are living with heart and circulatory conditions.

Stephen is sharing his story to drive awareness of the impact of cardiovascular disease and its symptoms, particularly amongst men.

Every day in the North, ten people like Stephen are admitted to hospital with a heart attack.

BHF Professor Charalambos Antoniades and his team have discovered inflammation in the fat surrounding coronary arteries can be a heart attack warning sign. With years of BHF funding, they have trained an AI tool, CaRi-Heart™, to spot this inflammation on CT scans. The tool can help a doctor assess someone’s risk of having a heart attack up to a decade in advance.

Stephen said: “Using data to predict future risk is hugely important. In industry, we use data to predict when machines will fail. Health should be no different. If data and research can help prevent heart attacks or identify risk earlier, that is a really important investment.”

Every day, around 12 people in the North die from cardiovascular disease. To donate visit bhf.org.uk/what-we-do/in-your-area/northern-ireland/keep-northern-ireland-beating