from the PacMasters Update Email
Ross Shoemaker, RIP
1942-2007
Ross Shoemaker died suddenly at the Senior Games following one of his swims. Ross had collapsed on the deck, and was not able to be revived. It is a terrible loss - Ross was a longtime member of the San Mateo Marlins, a warm and supportive man, and a devoted swimmer with an encouraging word for everyone.
Ross coached at Chabot Junior College for many years. Services are pending.
I don't think I need to point out the frequncy with which these unfortunate events have been occuring recently. Should active swimmers be getting stress echos or something as they get older? Are simple BP and lipid screens simply not enough?
First off, prayers for those who died and their families and all who mourn them. Donna, I'm so sorry for your loss. It must be such a shock!
At one time, competition in sports (except maybe golf or tennis) was reserved for younger people. Now more and more swimmers, runners, triathletes, and a host of athletes in other sports are competing at ages when people used to assume you were supposed to retire to a rocking chair and use a cane.
This has both an upside and a downside. The latter: CAD often doesn't show itself as much in younger people (although you do hear of people in their 20s and younger collapsing and dying of heart disease). Therefore, you'll have greater likelihood of people passing away during sports competition--and during sleep--later in life.
Yet as others have said, often people use these instances of athletes dying during competition to "prove" that it's dangerous to compete, only b/c they want a reason not to work out/exercise. After Jim Fixx's death, there were a lot of "see what it did for him" comments--but Fixx had a congenital heart problem that had he not been a runner might have taken him sooner.
We do the best we can, try to live a healthy lifestyle, not smoke, have defibrillators available at meets or marathons or whatever the event... and pray.... We've not been guaranteed physical immortality. Spiritual immortality is another matter. But while we're wearing our bodies, it makes sense to take the best care of them we can, learn all we can about how to do so, then leave the rest to our Creator.
First off, prayers for those who died and their families and all who mourn them. Donna, I'm so sorry for your loss. It must be such a shock!
At one time, competition in sports (except maybe golf or tennis) was reserved for younger people. Now more and more swimmers, runners, triathletes, and a host of athletes in other sports are competing at ages when people used to assume you were supposed to retire to a rocking chair and use a cane.
This has both an upside and a downside. The latter: CAD often doesn't show itself as much in younger people (although you do hear of people in their 20s and younger collapsing and dying of heart disease). Therefore, you'll have greater likelihood of people passing away during sports competition--and during sleep--later in life.
Yet as others have said, often people use these instances of athletes dying during competition to "prove" that it's dangerous to compete, only b/c they want a reason not to work out/exercise. After Jim Fixx's death, there were a lot of "see what it did for him" comments--but Fixx had a congenital heart problem that had he not been a runner might have taken him sooner.
We do the best we can, try to live a healthy lifestyle, not smoke, have defibrillators available at meets or marathons or whatever the event... and pray.... We've not been guaranteed physical immortality. Spiritual immortality is another matter. But while we're wearing our bodies, it makes sense to take the best care of them we can, learn all we can about how to do so, then leave the rest to our Creator.
