You just never know

[starrkers]

Last week a bloke was helping a mate harvest pumpkins at one of the veggie farms. He took a funny turn and an ambulance was called. As he was laid down in the back, he had a massive heart attack and died.

He was 36. He was also a commercially licenced pilot and had been flying a helicopter only a couple of days before.

He leaves a wife and 5 year old daughter with a 100 acre property (that used to be owned by my husband's uncle), a spraying business and a massive mortgage.

A post mortem was called for. They're trying to figure out how someone who is healthy enough to pilot commercial aircraft can just drop dead.

 

[jomar]

The name is escaping me right now, but an internationally known runner died of a heart attack while running years ago. The autopsy revealed that he would have died much sooner if not for running. Indeed. You never know, so...make each day count.

 

[rgraham666]

James Fixx was his name.

We've experience with sudden death's here on the AH. At the end of this month it will be two years since our lovely Colleen died, of a heart attack, at 36.

Damn, I miss her.

 

[TxRad]

Back when I was in the Marines, I had a good friend who died of a heart attack shaving in his own bathroom. He was 33 and in excellent shape. He had had a complete physical less than ten days before. A muscle tear near one of the valves made it leak and then rupture. He left a very young wife and two kids behind.

It's sad but it happens. When it's your time even hiding under the bed is not safe.



Rob, I hear ya buddy.

 

[only_more_so]

The name is escaping me right now, but an internationally known runner died of a heart attack while running years ago. The autopsy revealed that he would have died much sooner if not for running. Indeed. You never know, so...make each day count.

There was also a marathon runner who died last year, Ryan Shay. He won marathons, and other distance running events, but died 5 miles into a race.

 

[tickledkitty]

About 10 years ago that figure skater, Sergei Grinkov, died of a heart attack during a practice session. He was only in his 20s. Some heart problems don't show any symptoms until it's too late.

 

[jomar]

James Fixx was his name.

He's the one. Thanks!

And Len Bias in 1986 - a Maryland basketball player, shocked folks. Medicine is still far more an art than a science, though we'd like to think otherwise.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

About 26 years ago, my hunting partner's wife said she was tired and going to lay down for a nap. She never got up. In her late 20's and left a 18 month old and a stunned husband. He's never dated let alone gotten married in the years since.

 

[Trombonus]

Not to mention many baseball and football players in recent years who have died suddenly of heat exhaustion and other such maladies.

 

[JagFarlane]

A couple of years back the Minnesota Vikings lost Kory Stringer during training camp...up and fell dead from heat exhaustion.

I remember a few years back, one of the high schools in NJ lost a football player during practice, apparently he had a heart defect and died shortly after practice [not his first practice]

 

[glynndah]

Several years ago my son's aide didn't show up for work. They found her dead on her bathroom floor, her toddler still in his high chair eating Cheerios. She was 24 years old.

 

[shereads]

I've been acquainted with two young, athletic, even health-obsessed men who had no known history of heart problems until they suffered heart attacks. One was in his thirties, an avid cyclist, and recovered. The other was in his late twenties. He died while participating in a 5K run in the Keys.

 

[Mitsouko]

About 10 years ago that figure skater, Sergei Grinkov, died of a heart attack during a practice session. He was only in his 20s. Some heart problems don't show any symptoms until it's too late.

I miss G&G! His dad died young of something similar.

A former house mate of mine died at age 24 while jogging home from work, a wall in his heart just blew out. Supposedly it could have happened anytime.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I knew exercise was bad for you.

 

[OzoneRed]

This has got to be the most cheerful thread I've read so far today.

A post mortem was called for. They're trying to figure out how someone who is healthy enough to pilot commercial aircraft can just drop dead.

This is enough to make me avoid flying.

Oh, wait. I already avoid flying.

 

[oggbashan]

We're not used to sudden death from illness in younger people.

In my father's generation, born before the First World War, death was a real possibility before your 10th birthday and surviving beyond 30 was no indication that you would live a long life.

That was without war and acts of god such as hurricanes, tornados, lightning strikes. Medical knowledge couldn't predict many conditions nor effectively treat things like influenza, tuberculosis, diptheria etc.

My parents were both from families of 12 but only five from each family survived to become adults.

Death is a shock because we no longer expect it to happen to our contemporaries. Losing a child to illness is now rare. It used to be almost "normal". Death is a stranger when it used to be a familiar part of family life.

Og

 

[tickledkitty]

I miss G&G! His dad died young of something similar.

Me too! They were so beautiful together.

 

[john-the-author]

He's the one. Thanks!

And Len Bias in 1986 - a Maryland basketball player, shocked folks. Medicine is still far more an art than a science, though we'd like to think otherwise.

If memory serves--and it may not--Len Bias's death was related to cocaine. Apparently, if you're in really good shape, you run a much GREATER risk of dying from coke-related heart problems. Your heart already beats relatively slowly and the coke slows it down from there and *poof!* it gets to the point where it goes into ventricular fibrillation, which is almost always fatal if you don't have medical attention right there, right away.

 

[Belegon]

If memory serves--and it may not--Len Bias's death was related to cocaine. Apparently, if you're in really good shape, you run a much GREATER risk of dying from coke-related heart problems. Your heart already beats relatively slowly and the coke slows it down from there and *poof!* it gets to the point where it goes into ventricular fibrillation, which is almost always fatal if you don't have medical attention right there, right away.

Len Bias death was indeed cocaine-related. It has been fairly well-documented that Bias was not a habitual user... indeed, it has been widely accepted that it was his first time using it, if I recall correctly.

Daryl Kile is the first name I think of with recent baseball players. Died on a road trip in Chicago, without warning.

Doug Brocail of the Padres was suffering from fatigue a couple springs ago and an alert trainer told him to get it checked out... Brocail thought he was just out of shape from the offseason.

99% blockage of the left anterior descending artery.