Gold Coast deputy mayor Donna Gates reveals day she had a heart attack during pregnancy

The Gold Coast’s long-serving deputy mayor Donna Gates has opened up about a little-known heart attack she suffered - but says “I consider myself lucky”. READ THE FULL INTERVIEW

The Gold Coast’s long-serving deputy mayor Donna Gates has opened up about a little-known heart attack she suffered - but says “I consider myself lucky”.

The deputy mayor since 2012, in an indepth interview for the Gold Coast Bulletin Women of the Years awards by Harvey Norman, revealed she suffered a heart attack while pregnant at 29 and living interstate.

She was 33 weeks pregnant at the time with her sole child, son Matt Gates, and says she was unable to have more children after that - calling it “devastating and incredibly shocking at the time”.

“I didn’t know what it was. I had this massive pain in my neck. I told the nurse and she suggested it was indigestion.

“I’d been admitted for a premature labour. They ultimately gave me a shot of pethidine and the pain would go away and I’d just doze off a bit. I’d wake up and it was still there.

“I walked to the nursing station because I kept getting in trouble for disturbing other people. “This nasty woman nurse said to me, ‘you’re disturbing these other women who are losing their baby, you’ve just got a bit of indigestion’. The next time I got the pain, I walked to the nursing station to tell them that the pain was becoming quite unbearable and I collapsed.

Donna Gates: “I didn’t know what it was. I had this massive pain in my neck. I told the nurse and she suggested it was indigestion.” Picture: Glenn Hampson

“You know what they did? They gave me another shot of Pethidine. It was only one coronary artery that closed, and the next morning I felt okay, but they did an echocardiogram and my heart was damaged.

“So, they knew then what had happened so that I was confined to bed for the rest of the pregnancy.”

Ms Gates, who will again present an award - Enviromental Warriors on behalf of City of Gold Coast - at the Women of the Year gala on November 16, said it wasn’t till years later when she moved to Queensland and had appointments with a new heart specialist that she discovered why she had the attack.

She had been given an overdose of ventolin by a nurse due to her premature labour.

“They didn’t explain a lot in those days and I guess there was a level of protection for the hospital and its staff at the time.

Donna Gates has had “no more ill health” since a heart attack in her late 20s after being given an overdose of medicine in hospital: “I consider myself very lucky.”. Picture: Portia Large.

“I had a dosage given to me by a nurse without a doctor overseeing. I’m not very large, I’m tiny and so the consequences were that I had a major coronary and spent the rest of the pregnancy in hospital.”

Six weeks later she was induced - at 38 weeks “which makes me wonder did I ever have a premature labour in the first instance.”

She took legal action but says “it consumed me”.

Donna Gates (left) and Matt Gates. Picture: Celeste Humphrey

“I was a basketcase. I couldn’t move past it so in the end I just let it go and got on with my life.”

Ms Gates reflects she has a very “special bond” with her only son Matt: “Sometimes I wonder if all of that plays a part in it it’s weird. I’ve been really fortunate in so many ways.

“Looking back.”

Asked if her heart drama affects her now, she said it did not: “It made me nervous for a long time, but I’ve been fortunate that there’s been no more ill health. I consider myself lucky.”

DON’T MISS THE FULL INTERVIEW: WOMEN OF THE YEAR MAGAZINE WITH YOUR GOLD COAST BULLETIN, NOVEMBER 20.