TV - Movies
Sig Hansen's
Terrifying Heart
Attack On
Deadliest Catch
By STEVEN BOHNER
Discovery Channel show "Deadliest Catch" has had its fair share of tragedy, but sometimes, tragedy is avoided, and lives are spared from the deadly lifestyle of fishing on the Bering Sea. Captain Sig Hansen of the F/V Northwestern is one of those people who defied the odds and escaped from the jaws of death.
In Season 12, Episode 18 of "Deadliest Catch" — while discussing how stressful the season had been for him — Hansen was filmed having a heart attack at sea. At first, Hansen thought it was just some muscle pain in his chest and arm that may have come about from bad sleep, but he later found out the pain was due to a heart attack.
Hansen had suffered one of the deadliest types of heart attack, known as a "widowmaker," and was lucky that he was only about an hour from the port. According to the University of Michigan health blog, "As heart attacks go, a widowmaker can be particularly lethal because of the location and extent of the blockage."
Hansen recovered from his heart attack and returned to "Deadliest Catch" the following season, but he suffered another "widowmaker" heart attack during the offseason in 2019. Thankfully, his condition has been stable since then, and he continues to be a star character on the show.