A distraught mother who thought she was having a was instead hospitalized with broken heart syndrome â otherwise known as takotsubo syndrome (TTS) â less than a year after her veteran son tragically took his own life.
Dawn Turner, 57, of the U.K., lost her son in August of last year.Â
Just last month, the mom of three awoke with “unbearable” she said â and called an ambulance, worried she was going into cardiac arrest. But when she arrived at the hospital, doctors told her she was suffering from the effects of grief caused by a broken heart, as news agency SWNS reported.Â
TTS is a temporary, reversible heart condition often triggered by extreme emotional or physical stress, such as grief, fear or severe illness, according to experts.
Symptoms usually mimic a heart attack, with sudden and severe chest pain and the most common â and it primarily affects women over the age of 50.
Turner, of Eckington in Worcester, said, “I was [sitting] downstairs earlier that night and thought I had a . I went to bed and just couldnt get comfortable â I was breaking out in a sweat and had heart palpitations.
“Then, around midnight, I had pain down my arm and in my jaw. I was still putting it down to indigestion … My partner Paul asked me if I was all right, and I said, I think I’m having a heart attack.'”
She said she couldn’t catch her breath â “and my heart felt as though it was missing a beat and then [started] thudding again. For those moments, I truly believed I was having a heart attack.”
She said her partner called emergency services, and an ambulance arrived within five minutes.
“They came in and . They said, Your heart is all over the place â theres an extra beat, and its all over the place,” she said, as SWNS reported.Â
Turner was rushed to the hospital by ambulance.
In emergency care, Turner was also given blood tests.
She added, “They came back and said I didnt have the enzymes produced from a heart attack in my blood. But they said there [was] something going on.”
After undergoing more tests and seeing a cardiologist, Turner was told she had .
“I told [the doctor] that my heart feels broken. I told her about [my son] Rob, and she said its exactly that. She said its a real thing, and that I’d been under so much stress. The body can only take so much, and can be quite physical.”
Turner’s son committed suicide in August 2025 after struggling to get help with his .
He spent 10 years in the Royal Horse Artillery after joining in 2006, when he worked as an artilleryman.
He did two tours of duty , she said, and returned to civilian life in 2016 before suffering several worsening health conditions.
Turner, who is also the CEO of a called Stepway, “When he left the army, he got married, and they settled down in London. He walked straight into a job as a delivery driver. But then his health took a downward spiral, and he started having digestive troubles.”
He was eventually told â but those symptoms may be similar to those of mild traumatic brain injury, Turner said.
“He was deaf in one ear from using the guns,” she said. “He realized he was putting so much pressure on his marriage, so he moved back up with me. He started to build himself up â “
Turner said there were unfortunate delays as her son tried to get access to various services and facilities.
“When people lose loved ones, youre obviously distraught, but you eventually find closure,” she said, per SWNS. “I found peace when I lost my sister in 2015. But with Rob, I can’t find closure because theres no justice there.”
Turner is now on the mend and hopes to be fully recovered in a couple of weeks, SWNS reported.Â
“Until that moment, I had never really understood that a person could become so overwhelmed by stress and grief that it physically affects the heart,” she shared. “Broken heart syndrome can look and feel like a heart attack. It
