Channel 7 commentator Kate McCarthy shares details of distressing heart scare at Melbourne Airport

Channel 7 footy commentator Kate McCarthy has opened up about the heart scare that saw her collapse at Melbourne Airport after broadcasting the AFL Grand Final just days prior.

Kate McCarthy has shared the details of a health scare that saw her collapse at the Melbourne Airport. Picture: Instagram

Channel 7 footy commentator Kate McCarthy has opened up about the heart scare that saw her collapse at Melbourne Airport and be rushed to hospital two days after the AFL Grand Final.

McCarthy, who played for Brisbane, St Kilda and Hawthorn in the AFLW and is part of Triple M and Seven’s footy broadcast teams, attended the Grand Final last month before flying to Brisbane the following day for AFLW commitments.

Jude Bolton and Kate McCarthy on the Channel 7 broadcast at the AFL Grand Final before McCarthy’s collapse. Picture: Instagram

Returning home to Melbourne the next morning she started to feel unwell on the Virgin flight.

“On the plane I was really, really sick, vomiting, it was not very pleasant at all,” she said.

“When I landed in Melbourne I just sat in the terminal for a little bit to try and feel better before I asked someone from Virgin for medical help.

“They called an ambulance for me. I thought an ambulance was a bit excessive, but it was probably really lucky in the end that they did call one because by the time it arrived I was lying on the ground and not in a very good way at all.”

McCarthy has a pacemaker and was quickly hooked up to monitors by the ambulance officers.

“They moved to me to the ambulance and as we were about to head off I started to feel really, really unwell and started vomiting again and because I was hooked up to the monitor they said I went into Ventricular Tachycardia which is basically when your ventricles beat really, really fast and can’t pump blood out very efficiently,” McCarthy said.

“The paramedics started to be quite urgent. They put defib pads on me straight away and drew up adrenaline as well, but thankfully I came out of the rhythm myself after two to three minutes.

“I was taken to Royal Melbourne and was there for three days having tests.”

Kate McCarthy is monitored after suffering a heart scare. Picture: Instagram

While nothing “super sinister” was found, McCarthy said the doctors could not tell her why she had had the frightening heart episode. She is having follow up tests with her cardiologist.

McCarthy has had a pacemaker since she was 11 after suffering from seizures and black outs caused by an Intermittent Grade Three Blockage in her heart during her childhood.

“When I first got my pacemaker I was told you can play contact sport,” she said.

“Years later when I wanted to play AFL, I asked my cardiologist if I would be able to play and he said ‘yes’. Asking that question changed the course of my life. I played football and have been able to go into the media space.”

McCarthy’s AFLW career spanned 2017 to early 2023.