Looking for cardiac athletes. I belong to a couple online groups of athletes who all have had some sort of heart surgery. Bypass, stent, pacemaker, valve replacement, or aneurysm. They are mostly runners, but many cycle, ski, climb mountains, play team sports, etc. We wrote a book about our experiences. I'm wondering if anyone knows of any swimmers who have come back to competition after heart surgery.
www.amazon.com/.../1500159638
I had a mechanical aortic valve replacement 25 years ago and continued to do road and track races and shot put. I only recently got more serious about swimming and wonder whether there are any others.
It's not clear if you're looking for stories or to build a community of cardiac swimmers. I had a heart attack in 2009, ended up dead for a split second in the cath lab, now have a stent in my LAD. I started swimming last year, and while I'm too slow to be a competitive swimmer, I am slowly increasing my distance. I finished a 10K at the end of last year and this year am signed up for several longer swims, with the goal of testing the limits of the joy I get from swimming. I'm really lucky, my cardiologist is a swimmer and is hugely supportive.
It's not clear if you're looking for stories or to build a community of cardiac swimmers. I had a heart attack in 2009, ended up dead for a split second in the cath lab, now have a stent in my LAD. I started swimming last year, and while I'm too slow to be a competitive swimmer, I am slowly increasing my distance. I finished a 10K at the end of last year and this year am signed up for several longer swims, with the goal of testing the limits of the joy I get from swimming. I'm really lucky, my cardiologist is a swimmer and is hugely supportive.
