Another USMS death while competing

But this has got to be the 3 rd. or 4 th person with in a year. If my recollection is accurate, this is the third person in about a month. Parry O'Brien, Dave Parcells and now Ross Shoemaker. I'm kind of surprised that there wasn't more discussion of Dave's passing. At only 49 he was significantly younger than the other swimmers who died recently and arguably a more accomplished swimmer. From what I can tell, at his death he was one of the most elite ultra long-distance open water swimmers around. Marcia Cleveland told me that people came from as far away as Seattle and the UK for his funeral in Connecticut last weekend. forums.usms.org/showthread.php Skip Montanaro

Keep in mind that strenuous exercise did not cause the underlying heart condition (coronary artery disease) which resulted in sudden death. Case in point--Ron Johnson had multivessel disease which necessitated bypass surgery. By the way, we use the term "sudden death" even when the individual is successfully resuscitated.

Aside from all considerations above, about the need for medical exams and so forth, here is the deal: you die in a small plane accident, you're front page, you die in a car accident, you don't make the news. You die while swimming, you are headlines, you die in your sleep, only the family knows about it. There is a perception, of death while exercising, that is news, that generates debate. Die in a marathon, the whole world knows about it. Seems like a prejudice from sedentary people against the rest. I am sorry someone died while exercising, but believe me, a lot more died from lack of exercise. In a healthy person, whatever age, you tire out, you get fatigued, before you can reach a stage where you would damage your heart. Exercise does not cause heart disease. I've seen studies done (when I was present) with subjects with known heart disease where you put them on the treadmill and had them get up to a certain effort where their cardiograms start showing angina and the patients themselves start telling you about pain in their arms, numbness in their cheeks...then you ease on the stress exam, but for sure no one gets killed. In other words, the chance that a test will tell you not to swim faster or to go slower is rare. Believe me, you will be out of breath before your heart gives up on you. Okay, bring out your counter arguments...billy fanstone

Swimming and exercise are great for your general health but I don't think there is any real benefit to swimming 100's on a 1:20 base as opposed to swimming them on a 2:00 base, as far as heart health is concerned. My point is that for swimming to benefit your cardiovascular health you don't need to strive for great times in competition. In fact, it seems that pushing the envelope becomes more and more dangerous as one gets older.

Swimming and exercise are great for your general health but I don't think there is any real benefit to swimming 100's on a 1:20 base as opposed to swimming them on a 2:00 base, as far as heart health is concerned. My point is that for swimming to benefit your cardiovascular health you don't need to strive for great times in competition. That is correct--the cardiovascular benefits derive from moderate exercise.

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.

Did a search on these forums for "heart attack." All of the following had a heart attack during or just after a race. The date listed is the date of the first posting I found, not the date of the heart attack. - Ross Shoemaker (5/7/07) - Parry O'Brien (4/23/07) - Dave Parcells (4/23/07) - Ron Johnson (3/31/07) - Robert (Bob) Miller (12/6/06) - Richard Smith (4/8/06) - "Brendan" (no last name given) (5/2/05) - Arnie Green (12/7/04) - David Gregg III (2/17/04) - Jeffrey Wortman (8/29/03) - Bill Earley (7/5/02) Most of these people passed away, and I send along my condolences. I am sorry if I accidentally left any other names off this list. I have a few observations, and I apologize for sounding clinical. I notice by their names they are all men (unless one is a woman with a 'manly' nickname). I can't say whether this is a high number or low number compared with other sports. The risk is definitely present in other sports. (Google "marathon runner dies".) Here is a Wikipedia article on heart attacks during marathons: en.wikipedia.org/.../Marathon However, I think two things are in order: - Scholarly research into heart attacks at swim meets. Anything that uncovers a pattern (age, height, weight) would be a big help, I'd think. - A brochure sent to all entrants into Master's meets describing heart attack symptoms and outlining the risks of overstraining the heart during races.

When was the Senior Games? I hadn't heard. How awful (insert praying smiley).

I am heartbroken as I swam for San Mateo Marlins for years. I knew Ross, I am in shock at this loss. I only hope that if some of us pass while swimming a race, there is solace that we are doing what we love the most. This brings to mind my 18 mile upcoming swim from Roatan to Utila. But this swim will not be done at a high heartrate, it will be as an endurance slower swim so at 59, I can only hope I don't leave my family. And the training for this entire year until the swim will be at the same swimming speed, so hopefully, I will still be with everyone I know and everyone I love afterwards. Right now, I am sad for the entire San Mateo Marlins masters team; they are the most generous loving people I ever swam with. If Ross's friends or family read this thread, I want to say I remember Ross and enjoyed his company several times a week. Prayers to you. Donna

I'm starting to see a lot more pools equipped with AEDs. Hopefully these will save some lives. I think this is what we really have to focus on. Risk assessments can give us an estimate of what our risk is, but predicting an event is still impossible. Some of us will still want to compete, even with an intermediate risk of CAD. I have what is known as "premature CAD" in my family history, but I am not going to quit swimming and competing. Since all of us are taking some risk, it would behove us to be prepared in the event of an arrest and an AED is a significant advance.