Trip to children's museum reveals grandfather's heart problem

ALAMANCE COUNTY, N.C. — What started as a boy's day out for a North Carolina grandfather and his grandson quickly turned into something much more. The outing potentially saved the man's life and it wasn't a trip to a local hospital-- it was a visit to a children's museum.

For the average healthy person, the heart drum inside the Children's Museum of Alamance County should have a steady rhythm and the heart rate that lights up should stay between 60 and 100 beats per minute. "I did it and the heart rate was very erratic and I didn't like the way it looked," Boyd Hudson told WXII.

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Hudson was visiting the museum with his grandson when he noticed something not quite right, so he asked his grandson to try the drum. "Had him come back and put his hands back on there again and he had a nice, steady heart rate and I'm like, 'It's not the machine, ugh,'" said Hudson.

Hudson, who has a medical background, knew what it was, "It was just, 'Oh crap, this looks like afib.'"

So, in order to explain this to his doctor, he got help from the museum's marketing coordinator, Karli Dodson, and recorded the activity. "I kind of felt bad that I told him that it wasn't very accurate. But I mean, I just always thought it's just a child's toy, it's just here for the kids to have fun with. I just never thought it would help someone like this," said Dodson.

Shortly after, Hudson was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. "It can lead to heart attacks, you can also throw blood clots and end up having a stroke, so it can have all kinds of consequences," said Hudson.

Fortunately for Hudson, he caught it just in time. "God has control of everything and obviously, you know, it was meant for him to come that day, find that out, and to get taken care of before, you know, something serious did happen," said his wife, Susan Hudson.

A quick trip to the museum changed and potentially saved his life. "When you're here, play with your kids, you might save your life!" said Dodson.

Hudson plans to have his first procedure next month to help get his heart back to normal.

NBC/WXII