An Austrian man who was in Israel for work purposes consumed techina, leading to a massive heart attack and near death.

The story began when Walter Spielmann, 40, the owner of a sports technology company in Austria, traveled to Israel to supervise the installation of flooring in the Arena Sports Complex in Jerusalem.

Spielmann has suffered from a deadly allergy to sesame seeds for most of his life and has successfully avoided eating products with seeds until he came to Israel. However, he had never heard of techina and was unaware of the prominence of sesame seeds and techina in Israeli cuisine.

Spielmann had a meeting with Uri Menachem, CEO of the Arena Complex, after which they ate lunch together. At one point, Spielmann, who had an EpiPen on him but was totally unaware he had consumed sesame seeds,  began feeling unwell and excused himself. He went to the restroom, where he suffered a massive heart attack and lost consciousness.

When Spielmann failed to return, Menachem began looking for him while calling for help. The Arena facilities manager, Tzion Beeri, came to the rescue and broke the locked door in the bathroom, and quickly grabbed a nearby defibrillator when he found Spielmann unconscious. Meanwhile, an MDA paramedic arrived at the scene and began administering electric shocks, saving Spielmann’s life. After three shocks, his pulse was returned. The paramedics quickly evacuated him to Shaare Tzedek and he was admitted into the Jesselson Integrated Heart Center.

Dr. Elad Asher, director of the Center’s Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU), later explained that although Spielmann’s heart was healthy, “his consumption of a large amount of [ground] sesame seeds provoked a reaction which caused arterial constriction and a blockage of the heart muscle resulting in a potentially fatal heart attack. To his incredible luck, the quick reaction on the scene and the fact that a defibrillator was located nearby saved his life, combined with the additional care that we were able to provide here at Shaare Tzedek. Were it not for that quick response and the defibrillator, we wouldn’t be here telling this story.”

Spielmann thanked his doctors after he was released from the hospital: “When traveling the world, you don’t always recognize the local culinary traditions and menus. While I carry an EpiPen with me, even when I felt ill I didn’t quickly make the connection that this was an allergic attack. I feel extremely lucky and grateful that the right and professionally-trained people were there in the right place and the right time to save my life.”

Prof. Michael Glikson, Director of the Jesselson Integrated Heart Center said, “This is a relatively rare, yet known occurrence where the arteries contract from an allergic reaction to such an extent that it causes a heart attack. The combined responses of Prof. Constantini and our teams here in the hospital were able to recognize the cause which we are hopeful can assist others in the future in knowing how to be more aware of just how dangerous consuming unknown foods can be.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)