In November 2023, Claire Tiffany, 55, was halfway through getting ready for work when she was overcome with a deep pain in her chest.
Claire, who works in education, said: “I was getting ready and decided to add some colour to my hair, as I was presenting to a group of 70 teachers that morning, when I suddenly got this awful sensation, like a ball of indigestion right between where my ribs join at the front. I started to feel really clammy, sick and dizzy.”
She didn’t know it at the time, but Claire was having a heart attack and needed urgent medical help.
“I knew something wasn’t right and needed help, so with my hair full of dye, I got my husband to call for an ambulance."
- Claire Tiffany
“But the funny side of this whole event was that before I was on my way to the hospital, I crawled into the shower to rinse off the dye on my hair, as I thought I can’t lie on an ambulance pillow like this! I had no idea that I was in the middle of having a heart attack.” 
Fortunately, the ambulance arrived quickly and Claire was taken to hospital with her husband by her side.
It was found that despite being fit and well, and a non-drinker and non-smoker, Claire had a blocked artery. She needed to have a stent fitted to widen the coronary arteries- the main blood vessels supplying the heart.
Claire said: “It was a very scary, surreal experience. I’d considered myself to be healthy and had no warning signs this was going to happen. So to find myself in hospital, having a procedure on my heart was very frightening.
“The doctor confirmed I’d had a heart attack, 2 cardiac arrests, defibrillation and that I would need to be on long-term medication. But he also followed this up by saying ‘I think you’re going to be great for one of my research programmes’. And that was my introduction to research.”
Claire was invited to take part in a clinical trial that was looking at a medicine that could reduce the risk of future blockages in arteries. Participants like Claire were either given the medicine or a placebo, in addition to the usual care heart attack patients receive on the NHS.
Despite being a self-confessed risk-averse person, Claire decided to take part in the trial as a way of helping future generations like her son.
Claire said: “I’d found myself in this situation completely unexpectedly and without any warning. But along the way, from the ambulance to the hospital, the doctors and nurses all made me feel safe and cared for. I trusted them and felt comfortable saying yes to research.”
“Taking part in research is very exciting. You don’t know who else is on the trial, but we’re all part of something amazing that makes a massive difference to the world."
- Claire Tiffany
“And I’m giving back to the doctors, nurses and hospital staff who saved my life. Why wouldn’t I help them?”
How you can get involved with research
Sign up to Be Part of Research to be contacted about a range of health and care research. Or check out our full list of studies to see if one is right for you.
And if taking part in a study doesn’t feel right at the moment there are other ways to get involved in research.
