Is this an alarm that we should swim more to strengthen our hearts? Though similar tragedies happened to swimmers in the past, too, I believe. Seems all are in their late 50's?
News from
www.newsday.com/.../ny-nyrun0312133574nov03,0,6679842.story
Marathon runner dies after collapsing at finish line
BY DANIEL EDWARD ROSEN9:32 PM EST, November 2, 2008
A 58-year-old runner who had just finished the New York Marathon Sunday collapsed at the finish line after going into cardiac arrest and later died at a local hospital, police said.
Carlos Jose Gomes, of Sao Paolo, Brazil, was pronounced dead at Lenox Hill Hospital at about 5:20 p.m., police said. He had fallen ill after he crossed the finish line of the 26.2 mile race near the intersection of 81st Street and Central Park West.
Two other people suffered cardiac arrest Sunday while running in the race, police said.
A 59-year-old man collapsed in the middle of the Queensboro Bridge, police said. A fellow runner stopped and administered CPR until two emergency medical technicians arrived.
The runner was taken to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, where he was listed as critical but stable, according to one of the EMTs.
Jean-Louis Maubaret, 59, a French national, was running alongside his wife across the Queensboro Bridge between the 15th and 16th mile of the race when he collapsed, unconscious and not breathing, according to EMT Salvatore Sangeniti.
Sangeniti, 47, of the New York Fire Department EMS Division 4, was crossing the bridge from the Manhattan side when he and his partner, Amanda Wong, received a radio call about the runner. They reached the middle of the bridge to find another runner performing CPR.
Sangeniti, of Centereach, said he placed a defibrillator on Maubaret's chest. After one shock, he said, the runner regained consciousness and resumed breathing.
The runner who performed CPR returned to the race once he saw that Maubaret had regained consciousness, Sangeniti said.
Another marathoner suffered cardiac arrest on East 107th Street yesterday afternoon. The man, whose name was not immediately known, had collapsed and was not breathing, according to an FDNY spokesman. EMTs performed CPR as he was rushed by ambulance to Mount Sinai Medical Center.
I hope today goes smoothly for your dad and he has a quick recovery. Sending healthy vibes his way...
Hope your Dad has a quick and speedy recovery from his procedure today.
Thank you both. My dad is on his way home this afternoon. He is one that has a genetic defect where his tiny arteries get blocked. He had triple bypass in 2004 to help part of it but not all can be fixed by surgery.
I think he also has a bit of the "athlete's heart" since he's been very active for about 45+ years (he's 68). He just did a triathlon a few weeks ago - came in 2nd in his age group. And that was only a few days after a prostate biopsy which revealed prostate cancer -we're dealing with that next.
"Scientists long have noticed the phenomenon of the "athlete's heart." Athletes who train hard in aerobic sports, such as cycling, running or swimming, tend to have a bigger heart that pumps more blood throughout the body."
Not quite sure what you're getting at here, but a larger heart, in and of itself, is not necessarily a bad thing. There is a big different between a large heart with more muscle mass such as an athlete would develop than a large heart which is simply distended because the muscle is not strong enough to completely empty the left ventricle of blood when it contracts.
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Former Member
Almost a year ago to the day a younger man died of heart condition during marathon trial. See
www.foxnews.com/.../0,2933,307896,00.html
Note that the article says:
"Scientists long have noticed the phenomenon of the "athlete's heart." Athletes who train hard in aerobic sports, such as cycling, running or swimming, tend to have a bigger heart that pumps more blood throughout the body."
Thoughts?
This hits home for me today. My dad is having heart surgery as I write this. He is in excellent shape but has a genetic defect which causes blockages in tiny vessels. Heart rate monitors have saved his life since he monitors his heart rate as he runs, bikes and swims.
Former Member
I was once told that for an aerobic athlete, I have a relatively small heart. I told my brother who is a nurse in an ER this. he said that sometimes hearts get large but the vessels carrying the blood can't adapt to the pumping of the heart and the heart pumps blood that goes no where. Or the hard pumping heart doesn't have enough blood to pump so it is pumping and there is nothing there, I think is how he explained what also can happen. He thought that most runners or swimmers who die after competition tend to have a condition where vessels aren't good. I think it is an inherited condition that most people don't know about. Or they have plaque in a vessel somewhere that either comes loose or blocks blood flow. Maybe soem doctors on here can explain.
Former Member
Most of these cases occurring in middle aged athletes are due to atherosclerosis (coronary artery disease) with plaque rupture and ventricular fibrillation resulting in sudden cardiac death. There is a small but definite increase in the risk of these events with vigorous (as opposed to moderate intensity) exercise.
Former Member
There is a statistics problem here. Can we see how a control group of 35,000 with about same ages did not running the marathon? There were other deaths of cardiac failure, or heart attack in New York at about the same time. As these other dead people were not running, their deaths did not make the headlines. Most heart attacks happen during sleep in the early dawn hours. Most heart attacks after exertion are caused by snow shoveling...
Former Member
There is a statistics problem here. Can we see how a control group of 35,000 with about same ages did not running the marathon? There were other deaths of cardiac failure, or heart attack in New York at about the same time. As these other dead people were not running, their deaths did not make the headlines. Most heart attacks happen during sleep in the early dawn hours. Most heart attacks after exertion are caused by snow shoveling...
Thanks for saying that so I didn't have to. :applaud:
People are awful at estimating risk. I heard recently that, on average, people are willing to pay more for a $1 million life insurance policy to cover death from terrorism on a plane flight than they are willing to pay for the same amount of coverage against death from all causes during the flight (which obviously includes terrorism).
There will be thousands of people who desperately need to lose weight and get in shape that will point to this runner's death and say, "Well, there you go, running is bad for you so I'm just going to continue being an out-of-shape fatty!"
Former Member
This hits home for me today. My dad is having heart surgery as I write this. He is in excellent shape but has a genetic defect which causes blockages in tiny vessels. Heart rate monitors have saved his life since he monitors his heart rate as he runs, bikes and swims.
Hope your Dad has a quick and speedy recovery from his procedure today.
Former Member
My neighbor three-doors-down was a thin, active man with low cholesterol levels when his younger brother suddenly died of a heart attack. The neighbor went to his doctor shortly after, was sent for an angiogram, and a few days later was in hospital having a quad bypass for 95% blocked arteries. I don't know how he is now, he's moved away, but this shows that being thin and healthy and active only improves the odds, it's no guarantee. Anyone over age 40 who wants to remain active should probably get thoroughly checked out, even if they've always been active.
I recently got a heart-rate training book which states that half the heart sends blood to the upper body and the other half to the lower body. If so, doing a form of exercise that only works half the body might not be enough. Bring on the cross-training!
