In a remarkable turn of events that underscores the importance of heedful intuition, a 63-year-old resident of Oxted, a small town in Surrey, England, has credited a ‘vivid and haunting’ premonition with saving his life.
Jeremy Schwartz, a former chief executive officer turned motivational speaker, was deep in preparation for a gruelling expedition to climb Ama Dablam, a 22,349ft peak in the Himalayas,scheduled for October.
Despite a rigorous fitness regime that included a 1,000-mile cycling trek across Italy and a solo mountain expedition in Albania, Mr Schwartz found himself shaken by a dream in which he died of a heart attack on the Nepalese slopes. “I’ve never had anything like a premonition before. But this dream was so strong and so clear that it left me with an overwhelming sense of importance and urgency,” Mr Schwartz said. “It was so vivid, clear and memorable.”
The clarity of the vision prompted the Surrey man to bypass the usual ‘wait and see’ approach, seeking a private consultation within 48 hours. Following a battery of tests, including blood work, an MRI and a CT scan, surgeons at the Cleveland Clinic London discovered a life-threatening aortic aneurysm. The condition, a swelling of the body’s main artery, could have proved fatal under the extreme physical strain of a high-altitude climb.
Reflecting on the diagnosis, which he described as a ‘complete shock’, Mr Schwartz remained pragmatic about the source of his warning. “I’m not a tarot card reader or a spiritualist, and I’m not religious,” he noted. “I think my subconscious helped make sure I became aware of something that might otherwise have remained hidden.”
The subsequent ‘David procedure’, a complex six-hour open-heart surgery to replace the aortic root, was performed by consultant cardiac surgeon Cesare Quarto. Interestingly, Mr Quarto suggested that such intuitive episodes are not entirely alien to the medical profession.
“It is not the first time I have heard a similar story,” Mr Quarto observed. “I strongly believe some patients have an internal alarm bell that starts ringing. Some are able to hear it, and some aren’t.”
The ‘internal alarm’ may have been triggered by a series of subtle, real-world cues. A year prior, Mr Schwartz had recorded a high blood pressure reading while on a business trip. More recently, a contemporary from his local cycling club had died suddenly from a cardiac event.
Most poignantly, on the very day Mr Schwartz had originally intended to be on Ama Dablam, another climber on the mountain collapsed and died from a heart attack.
Now in recovery, Mr Schwartz is using his experience to challenge the ‘stiff upper lip’ culture that often prevents men from seeking medical help. “One of the challenges for men is we often delay taking important medical action,” Mr Schwartz said. “A lot of these conditions are preventable or treatable if you catch them early,” he added.
His message to others is one of uncompromising vigilance: “If something feels wrong, it’s not clever or manly to pretend it isn’t. Don’t wait, don’t rationalise, don’t tough it out. Get it checked out. It’s how you get to keep living the life you love.”
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