One look at Racecar Driver Ryan Newman and some would call him a heart breaker. But a Goshen woman really means it.
"He won and it was just more than I could handle I guess."
Demy Kelly calls herself Ryan Newman’s biggest fan. She can prove it with piles of t-shirts, flags, pictures, and a Ryan Newman dedicated MySpace page.
“Oh, I just love him,” she says.
Judging by Demy’s reaction to the South Bend native’s big win at the Daytona 500 Sunday night, you might have thought Demy, herself, was the winner.
"She got so excited. It was unreal. I couldn't calm her down," explains Demy’s husband, Ron Kelly.
As the excitement set in, so did a heart attack.
“The doctor said, ‘Mrs. Kelly, you have had a heart attack.’ And I’m thinking, ‘Oh this is serious.’”
Demy had what’s called Broken Heart Syndrome. It’s rare and not your typical heart attack. Her doctor says it usually happens to middle to older aged women and is caused by sudden adrenalin surges to the heart.
Doctors say there usually isn’t any long term heart damage.
Demy says she’s already feeling much better.
"You're heart feels so full of hormones and adrenaline and stuff; it literally goes into a spasm. They said if I hadn't have come to the hospital when I did I would have died," Demy explains.
And Demy’s heart wasn’t the only one broken.
"When she was gone, I missed her so bad. Three days at home by myself. I missed her so bad I couldn't stand it," Ron says as he chokes up and hugs his wife of more than 50 years.
But if you ask Demy, her heart was far from broken.
"No for him [Newman]. It's a happy heart, an ecstatic heart; just thrilled to death, almost!"
At least Demy didn’t lose her sense of humor.