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Making lifestyle changes after a heart event isn’t always easy. Paul David’s wife can attest to that. “It’s a lot of hard work,” she says about Paul’s ongoing recovery from a quadruple bypass operation. “But it is possible when you break things down and take them step by step.”
Paul is one of many thousands of patients across the nation and world whose heart problems run in the family. His father had a quadruple bypass at age 50, dying 10 years later of a massive heart attack.
While Paul didn’t see himself following in his father’s footsteps, that changed when he was facing severe blockages in his right arteries.
People whose heart disease runs in the family have a variety of options. Expect the best and do nothing. Fear the worst and do nothing. Or take a proactive – emphasis on active – approach to heart health.
Paul ended up needing a quadruple bypass like his father, but he was determined to extend his post-bypass life by many more years. As Dr. Vinayak (Vinnie) Bapat, Chair of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Minneapolis Heart Institute and researcher at Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation asserts, “Modern medicine has proven very safe and reliable. I see Paul [having] a really healthy three or four decades for sure – provided he continues to invest in his own health.”
And Paul does just that through diet, exercise, and a positive attitude.
I love to exercise. I didn’t used to. Now, I literally can’t live without it.
Paul David
And that means he exercises in the temperate months and in Minnesota’s winters, including snowshoe treks across local lakes.
“I know what it’s like to lose a dad when you’re young,” says Paul. It’s a pain he definitely doesn’t want his kids to experience.
Listen to Paul tell his own story:
Find resources on heart disease prevention and coronary artery disease.
