TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The first time Detective Robert Wright had a heart attack in early December, his wife Heather said he was out of the hospital in a few days.
“I was terrified,” Heather said. “He’s only 36 years old. It’s not something you expect, and I’m pregnant. I was like, 24 weeks pregnant at the time, so it was just a lot at once.”
She said the couple had been trying to have a baby for 10 years.
“We were so excited. Like our family, everybody was so excited,” recalled Heather. “My sister has kids, my brother has kids, his brother has kids, everybody has kids except for us.”
But her pregnancy had complications, so she was admitted to the hospital. Days later, Robert took his test to get back out in the field for full duty with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
“He was on his way to turn in his paperwork, he’d started having chest pain, had to call the ambulance, took him to the hospital,” Heather remembered. “This was a much more serious heart attack than the last one.”
This second heart attack happened on Feb. 12. On Wednesday, Feb. 14, doctors woke up Robert and removed his breathing tube, just hours before Heather gave birth via C-section to the couple’s daughter, Raelynn. She weighed 1 pound, 11 ounces.
“Now, she’s in the NICU and he’s in the ICU,” Heather explained. “I’m just trying to get back and forth to both of them.”
Heather said doctors are evaluating Robert for a heart transplant now, though she’s holding out hope his heart can beat on its own, or possibly with a pacemaker. Currently, he has a machine pumping his blood for him.
“I have to be strong for them,” Heather said. “I cry, I get sad, I get scared, but I’m just glad that they’re both here and just want them to get home as soon as possible.”
While the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office workers’ comp is covering Robert’s medical expenses, the couple does have a GoFundMe to help cover other costs with Heather and the new baby.
