Footy legend rushed to hospital with ‘excrutiating pain’ just two years after suffering a heart attack

Parramatta legend Peter Wynn was rushed to hospital last week after reporting ‘excrutiating pain’.

Medical specialists have conducted immediate tests on the footy champion’s heart two-and-a-half years on from his heart attack. 

The 66-year-old has spent over a week in hospital, News Corp reports, but has insisted he ‘fights on’.

Wynn, who won three premierships with the Eels, has undergone CT scans, angiogram and cardiac aspirations while under the treatment of Dr Bruce Walker, a leading cardiologist at St Vincent’s Hospital. 

‘There are actually two separate medical issues,’ said Wynn, after he was initially diagnosed with Pseudogout, previously known as calcium pyrophosphate disease, which causes ‘severe pain and swelling’. 

The Parramatta Eels hero suffered a heart attack two-and-a-half years ago

‘I had excruciating pain down my life side,’ Wynn said. ‘I couldn’t get out of bed. I couldn’t move, I was like a cripple. I had to use my right arm just to lift my left arm above the horizontal.

‘They diagnosed that as being Pseudogout across my shoulders, neck and down through my left shoulder blade. It gets into the lining in your joints.

‘They checked it out and then found there was a high elevation in my troponin levels in my heart and they had to work out why. Something had happened.

‘I had a heart attack in 2021. The doctors checked out the stents they put in and checked my arteries. They had to eliminate things.

‘I’ve had quite a few tests – CT scans, angiograms and (cardiac) aspirations, where they take fluid out of the joints to see what is causing the inflammation and pain.

‘They did a test on my heart where they go in through your groin to check the stents. I’m still here in hospital. I don’t know when they’re going to let me out.’ 

Wynn was invited to CommBank Stadium directors’ lounge for the Eels’ game against the Bulldogs last Saturday but declined due to being in hospital. 

Wynn won three premierships with the Eels and enjoyed a hugely successful playing career

‘When I first got (to hospital) I told the doctor I was in so much pain and he thought I’d had a heart attack,’ Wynn said.

‘That’s when they did the tests and the troponin was high but the pain was actually caused by the Pseudogout.

‘I don’t think I had a heart attack but the levels indicated something did happen to my heart.’ 

The 66-year-old played 176 games for Parra, as well as four State of Origin games for New South Wales. He also represented his country on four occasions.