A man has shared the terrifying — and ultimately life-saving — moment his Apple Watch stepped in after he suffered a stroke mid-workout.

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Derick Gant, a 57-year-old fitness enthusiast from Toledo, Ohio, was jump roping in his driveway when disaster struck — just seconds after he achieved a personal milestone.

Determined to push himself further than ever before, Gant said he had set a clear goal that day.

“I had decided that I was going to jump longer than I ever had without missing a beat,” Gant told WTOL11. And for a brief moment, he did exactly that.

“I actually did it. I went about 1 minute and 15 seconds,” he added, describing the high of hitting his target.

But what followed was anything but triumphant.

Moments later, Gant collapsed — and the entire ordeal was caught on camera, which had been recording his workout. “I was laying there, not really knowing what was going on,” he recalled. “I couldn’t really move my left leg or my left arm.”

As he lay on the ground, disoriented and unable to move properly, his Apple Watch detected the fall and triggered its emergency alert system.

The device immediately displayed a message asking whether he needed assistance.

Gant remembered the alert clearly: “It says, ‘It looks like you’re in trouble. Do you need some help?’ And I looked at it and I go, ‘I’m gonna be fine in a couple of minutes.”

Initially brushing it off, he soon realised this was far more serious than a simple stumble.

“I tapped the watch and said, ‘Yes, I need some help,’ and the watch called all of my emergency contacts. It called 911,” he said.

Within minutes, paramedics were on the scene.

Doctors later confirmed that Gant had suffered a stroke. He admitted that he hadn’t expected something like that to happen to him.

“I didn’t think it would happen to me, of course, but it was my fault,” he said, explaining that he had recently stopped taking his blood thinners — which resulted in a blood clot travelling to his brain.

Fortunately, his strong level of fitness played a key role in his recovery. Gant regained 90% of his abilities within the first 24 hours following the stroke.

His neurologist, Dr. Mohammad Juma, told WTOL11 that technology like this is increasingly helping patients get critical treatment faster.

“In the last couple of years, we have a lot of patients coming to us through acitivation of their Apple Watch or activation of their home device. So that’s a very positive change in the sense that you can actually recognize symptoms very early and call 911 where, you know, with this disease, every minute matters,” Dr. Juma said.

Gant has since made a full recovery and credits his smartwatch with playing a crucial role in saving his life.

After his story spread on social media, many users shared their reactions.

“This is one reason why I always wear my Apple Watch. Glad to see it continue to save lives,” one person wrote. Another added: “That is absolutely amazing. I didn’t even know they did that.”

Featured image credit: WTOL11 (screenshots)