A LEADING Worcester politician is recovering from a heart attack - and has endured an eight-hour life saving operation.

Councillor Richard Boorn, the city council’s cabinet member for finance, says it is a “miracle” he is alive today after having a triple heart bypass.

The 53-year-old, a father of four, was watching TV at his home in Ombersley Road when he started to feel ill.

He went to bed but the pain got worse and spread his arm, so an ambulance was called to take him to Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

After doctors confirmed he’d suffered a heart attack, which was on Thursday August 22, he was earmarked for the mammoth operation, which took place at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Remarkably, the veteran Labour politician kept fielding calls from your Worcester News before and after his ordeal, including once while he was waiting in A&E.

Coun Boorn now says he’s determined to get back into the cut and thrust of life at the Guildhall, and has paid tribute to hospital staff.

“I was watching TV and began to feel something strange in my chest, and by the time I went to bed at 11pm the pain began in my arm,” he said.

“It was like a severe case of indigestion, but once the pressure has begun to spread I knew it wasn’r right.

“By the time I got into an ambulance I was pain free, I waited four hours at A&E and the doctors did blood tests which showed I’d had a heart attack.”

The medics then told him the only solution was the operation, which took place on Wednesday September 4 and involved cutting his ribs open.

A faulty heart valve, which he was given after he was born, was replaced during a painstaking process in which the entire body was shut down.

He then went into intensive care for a couple of days, but is now at home recuperating, ahead of getting back into attending council meetings.

“I remember waking up in hospital with my wife there. It was like your whole body had shut down and you’ve got to get it going again,” he said.

“The hardest part is getting back to being ‘you’. I’m coming along, doing some walking and council work and am definitely looking forward to getting back.”

In October last year Coun Boorn had to undergo revolutionary keyhole surgery after getting pains in his chest when a valve in his heart had become clogged up.

He says he owes both operations to the efforts of hospital staff and specialists.

“The staff work under immense pressure and I’ve said this before, but they deserve every accolade they get,” he said.