Paralympian Hunter Woodhall has ‘emergency surgery’ in hospital while visiting dad after open heart procedure

26-year-old Paralympian Hunter Woodhall ended up becoming a patient himself when he became unwell in hospital while visiting his dad.

“Came to Utah to spend time with my dad after his open heart surgery,” the track and field star wrote on his Instagram Story on Tuesday (March 4). “Yesterday I had horrible stomach pain, turns out I have to get [my] appendix removed. So, we will be recovering together.”

In a follow-up, Woodhall posted a photo of himself in a hospital bed, telling fans he was awaiting “emergency surgery.” He added: “Didn’t need an appendix anyway.” Hours later, Woodhall returned to Instagram to gave a further update, sharing that the surgery was a success and also thanking fans for the concern they had expressed since his original post. In a video, he said: “Feeling pretty good, so everything went well. Thanks for all of the thoughts and prayers.”

The following day, Woodhall gave more details about what happened and credited his Oura Ring, a smart technology health ring, for “saving” his life. “Everything was fine [at first]. I was even going to the store to get warm clothes to go to practice that day,” he explained in an Instagram Reel published yesterday ( Wednesday March 5). “Before I went to practice, I went and ate lunch. I had a salad with some blue cheese on it and that’ll be important later.”

Woodhall went on to say that after he went to practice, he returned to his parents’ house and started to experience stomach pain. At the time, he put that down to a lactose intolerance reaction from the cheese — even though he described the pain as being far more severe than anything he had experienced previously. He said he tried to sleep it off.

“When I woke up, I had some soreness in my lower right abdomen, which came up as a red flag, but I figured I could just tough it out,” he said. But, he said what caused alarm was that Oura Ring flagged a concern. “What caught me off guard is a symptom radar that had major signs that something was wrong in my body,” he said.

He said that the warning was the first he had received since wearing the fitness accessory for “four years.” So after looking up symptoms for appendix issues, he decided to ask his mum to take him to the hospital. Doctors ran multiple tests on Woodhall and also sent it for a CT scan, where it was found that his appendix was “extremely enlarged.” Woodhall was quickly taken for emergency surgery. Now, both he and his father are on the mend.

“My dad is doing great as well,” he said. “I came here to recover with him and now we’re going to be recovering together.” He added: “ Sometimes you get a sign right when you need it. Although scary, I’m so grateful things worked out. “

Woodhall is married to a fellow athlete, Tara Davis-Woodhall, aged 25. Last summer, Woodhall took home gold in the men’s 400m T62 at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, weeks after his wife won gold in the women’s long jump at the 2024 Paris Olympics.