Thai Presenter Shares Father's Heart Disease Warning Signs
Thai presenter Gift Warodaya shares his father's discovery of severe coronary artery disease, where one blood vessel was 90 percent blocked with plaque. Gift recognized the warning signs—mild chest tightness and sharp arm pain—from prior work on a heart disease awareness campaign, allowing him to seek urgent treatment that potentially prevented a fatal heart attack. The story highlights that coronary artery disease can affect anyone regardless of fitness level and typically stems from prolonged consumption of unhealthy foods.
Thai presenter and actor Gift Warodaya Kamthontip has shared his family's experience with his father's health scare, which led to discovering severe coronary artery disease during routine hospital screening. One of his father's blood vessels was found to be 90 percent blocked with plaque; had treatment been delayed further, a heart attack could have occurred at any time.
Gift credits his knowledge of heart disease symptoms to work he did over a decade ago as a presenter for Phyathai Hospital and Mahidol Channel covering heart disease awareness. When his mother called to report his father's symptoms—mild chest discomfort and sharp pain radiating to the left arm, lasting no more than 15 minutes and recurring every two to three weeks—Gift immediately recognized them as warning signs and rushed his father to Siriraj Hospital for comprehensive cardiac testing.
The human heart has three major arteries: one in the front and two in the back. Doctors discovered that one of the rear arteries in Gift's father had become 90 percent blocked. Coronary artery disease is not determined by physical fitness alone; many athletes have collapsed on the field without knowing they had the condition. The disease typically develops gradually from prolonged consumption of foods high in unhealthy fats. Today, Gift's father takes daily heart medication and carefully monitors his diet, maintains regular health checkups, and watches for warning signs—a reminder for everyone to look after the health of those they love.