Tag Archives: heart-health

Life’s Essential 8™

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The Boys of ’81 – James Lick High School

This post is dedicated to

Rudy Lopez

October 14, 1962 ~ January 20, 2024

James Lick High School, Class of 1981

***

I was at a memorial service on Sunday. Another friend had passed away. Heart attack. He was 61 years old. Moose Lodge #401 in San Jose was packed with family and friends. The Moose is an old building with hardwood floors, no frills, no decorations on the walls, and a bingo board hanging from the rafters. It’s an institution on the east side. I’ve been there for wedding receptions, family gatherings, birthday parties, community meetings, and after school events. It’s a great place to get together and laugh, dance, and have a few beers and well drinks.

I’ve been to the Moose for other funeral receptions too. My Nino (godfather) for confirmation and another friend who succumbed to heart disease a few years back were the last two I attended there. The hall was set up as it always is. Rectangular folding tables were lined up in rows from front to back. A screen to show a video and easels with old pictures lined the foot of the stage. A small group of James Lick High School friends stood in the back of the room to pay respects.

As we waited for the program to start, we shared hugs and old stories that never seem to get old. In high school, our late friend seemed quiet and unassuming to those who didn’t know him. On the football field he was a force of nature. He was built low to the ground like a bulldog keeping tacklers away from the ball. When he played defense, not a soul dared run up the middle without fear of running into a brick wall.

Off the field, he was a straight-talking, honest, and no nonsense kid. As a friend, you knew he always had your back. He wasn’t a bad guy to have around when trouble was brewing. From the testimonials at his memorial, it was clear little had changed. He went to work everyday despite health challenges and did everything with pride. We heard stories about his love of classic cars, football, and his commitment to the Raider Nation. He was a man of integrity to the end. 

It was a nice service. 

The most inspirational part of the day was when his nephew referred to the high school football star as his real dad after the young man’s biological father had left the family. What struck me most about the afternoon was the emphasis on family. While the families in attendance ate a traditional Mexican lunch at the rows of tables, the old James Lick guys in the back of the room shared stories with each other about kids and grandkids. 

This is what is so sad about chronic heart failure. Friends and families are left in the wake of this nasty disease. It’s the #1 killer in the world. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “one person dies every 33 seconds in the United States from cardiovascular disease.”  In 2021 alone, about 695,000 Americans passed away from a heart related illness. I learned on Sunday that yet another classmate lost his life to cardiovascular disease that very year.

I’m one of the lucky ones. With God’s grace, an amazing family, and an outstanding Kaiser Santa Clara Medical Center healthcare team, I’ve survived a heart attack, a decade of heart failure, and a heart transplant. That’s why I’m so passionate about doing my little part in sharing with others that slowing down the rate of heart disease is possible. There is hope.

As a volunteer for the American Heart Association, I learned about Life’s Essential 8™. Following these eight guidelines helps lower the risk for heart disease, stroke and other major health problems:

  1. Eat Better
  2. Be More Active
  3. Quit Tobacco
  4. Get Healthy Sleep
  5. Manage Weight
  6. Control Cholesterol
  7. Manage Blood Sugar
  8. Manage Blood Pressure

To borrow a phrase from my dad (he died of a cardiovascular disease), doing these things consistently is easier said than done. Before my 2010 heart attack, I only did #2 and #3 on a steady basis. I was active, including somewhat regular exercise, and never smoked. Doctors told me that doing these two things probably saved my life, although it certainly didn’t prevent a heart attack in the first place.

As American Heart Month comes to a close, I encourage . . . I urge . . . everyone to go to the American Heart Association website and follow Life’s Essential 8™. It could save your life and, just as important, it can give your family more time with you.

RIP Rudy.

Be More Active

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If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving. ~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

***

After returning home from the hospital in 2010, I went to a class to learn how to live a full life with a compromised heart. The topics included information about how the heart works, suggestions for healthy living, exercises that strengthen the heart muscle without adding stress to it, and facts about the different medications necessary to keep the heart functioning.

The material for the six-week program was delivered by nurses, nutritionists, pharmacists, physical therapists, and other content experts in a classroom setting. At 46, I was clearly the youngest of the 30 or so participants in a class of mostly ornery and impatient 70 and 80 year-olds set in their ways and grumbling about aches and pains.

A 75 year old woman named Ruth had been my seat neighbor for the entire program. She was a nice grandmotherly type who loved cooking, hated exercise, and planned little changes to her life. She half-jokingly told me that she never exercised a day in her life and saw no reason to start. Then she said, “Look at you. You were a healthy young man and still had a heart attack like the rest of us.” She had a point . . . kinda.

When I was a kid, I loved to jump fences, climb trees, and ride bikes with neighborhood kids. We played basketball on my driveway, two-hand touch football in the street, and sandlot baseball at the elementary school at the end of the block. Of course, there was Little League baseball until I was 12 years old, and middle school flag football and basketball. In high school, I earned four varsity letters in basketball and baseball.

Yeah, I was that kid.

After high school, I played recreation league basketball and softball. Obligatory beer busts after each game were standard. That didn’t help much, but I stayed active. Marriage, career, and kids left little time for these activities. I played the last rec league basketball game in my late 30s. I came home dejected because the younger men were just too fast and strong for me. 

My nine year old daughter laughed when I “announced” my rec league “retirement” to Sandra and the girls. “It’s not like you’re Michael Jordan retiring from the Bulls daddy,” Marisa quipped. Over the next several years, I occasionally found time to exercise by walking, working out in the gym, and playing golf. I was in the gym on June 7, 2010, when the opening salvo of heart attack symptoms began.

Despite Ruth’s confidence that exercise didn’t prevent my heart attack, staying active certainly saved my life. My cardiologist assured me that I wouldn’t have survived the June 7th heart attack and surgery if I wasn’t in shape. Later that summer, after a medically induced coma caused my muscles to waste away, I completed an 8-week physical rehabilitation program in three weeks. The physical rehab doctor mentioned that my athletic experience helped me learn and execute the exercises faster than usual.

So what’s the point of all this?

According to the American Heart Association, the second of Life’s Essential 8 for lifelong good heart health is Be More Active. This doesn’t mean that you have to be a formally trained athlete or a gym rat to stay healthy. Life’s Essential 8 recommends that adults should get 2 ½ hours of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity per week. 

Walking for 30 minutes a day, five days per week qualifies as moderate activity. The vigorous exercise recommendation can be done by running 15 minutes a day, five days per week. If you don’t like to or can’t walk or run, the American Heart Association Life’s Essential 8 website has lots of ideas on how to be more active throughout the day.

As I mentioned in my  last post, exercise alone isn’t the formula for a healthy lifestyle. As my old friend Ruth so sarcastically reminded me, it sure didn’t prevent me from having a massive heart attack. In conjunction with eating better and the other six of Life’s Essential 8 (I plan to share them on this blog in coming weeks), being more active will lead to a healthier and more fulfilling life.

Be creative and set goals. Get out there and do your thing, even when you don’t feel like it. I know the kids, job, extended family obligations, and a million other things make it hard to keep going, but you just have to do it. As MLK said, “whatever you do you have to keep moving.” Walk 30 minutes a day. Put it in your calendar. Take the stairs instead of the elevator and escalator. Go whack some weeds. Dance with your partner everyday. You never know if a little smooching might happen next!

Since my heart transplant, I walk four or five days per week, four miles per day. I use light weights two or three days per week. And, I mean light weights. Ten pound dumbbells, body resistance exercises like modified push ups, jumping jacks, squats, and crunches do the trick to get the heart rate up. The days of trying to get chiseled chest, arms, and legs are laughable and long gone. 

My goals now are to walk around the mall with Sandra and the girls, run around with our new puppy, play a round of golf from time to time with old friends, and dance to a few of our favorite songs with Sandra. Oh yeah, and stay alive!

I still often think about Ruth and my geriatric classmates from 2010. I sometimes wonder if any of them ate hot dogs. My guess is that many have passed away during the past decade and a half. It would be a blessing if God allows me to live that long. But that’s His call.

In the meantime, I’m going to be more active and keep moving until I can’t. If you have a little time, come join me.