For all their differences, NBC newsman Tim Russert and famed marathoner Jim Fixx, author of the 1977 best-seller The Complete Book of Running, have two things in common: Each died of a massive heart attack while still in his 50s.
Neither one saw it coming.
Russert, 58, died Friday while recording voice-overs for Meet the Press, anchored, as usual, to a desk. Fixx, 52, died on July 20, 1984 after a daily run in rural Hardwick, Vt.
Such cases provide tragic proof that though you can lower your risk of sudden death, you can’t always prevent it, says Robert Califf, vice chancellor of clinical research at Duke University in Durham, N.C.
The importance of watching one’s diet and weight cannot be stressed too strongly. Moderate exercise……even for those like me who use wheelchairs occasionally…..is absolutely vital. Last year, following lab tests and during a physical exam, I was informed by my V.A. doctor that I have Type 2 diabetes……unfortunately all too common these days…..but manageable. And I keep it under control and am doing very well.
The point is, you ARE what you EAT! It took the doctor’s diagnosis to shock me and throw a real scare into me!
Many years ago, the husband of a woman who’s since become a good friend of mine went jogging one morning. This guy had it all. He was a doctor, he was in great shape(enough to go jogging anyway), he had a beautiful house in one of the nicer parts of Webster Groves, Missouri, he was married to a hot wife and he had two beautiful and well-adjusted children.
But he never came back from that jog because he collapsed and died in the street. A congenital heart condition that no one knew about.
You never know. Ever.