At 48, he seemed to have everything going for him, at least as far as his health was concerned. He was physically fit, a regular marathon runner and someone who took his fitness seriously. He had no chest pain, no breathlessness and no reason to suspect that anything could be wrong with his heart. But there was one detail that he had overlooked: family history. So, when his brother underwent angioplasty at the age of 52 and spoke of male predecessors in the family having a shorter lifespan, he decided to look more closely at his own risk.

Although he felt perfectly healthy, he decided to undergo a CT coronary angiogram to check the condition of his heart arteries. What the scan revealed was nothing short of shocking. He had blockages ranging from 75 to 90 per cent in all four major coronary arteries. His condition was so extensive that he needed bypass surgery rather than angioplasty.…