AVON LAKE, Ohio — June is Men's Health Awareness Month, and this weekend, of course, is Father's Day, so it's a perfect time to sit down and discuss health history with dad. Chris Prewitt can tell you it might even save your life.
"Mine is a pretty wild story," Chris, of Avon Lake, says. "Late last year, I was 48 years old and (had) historically taken care of myself. I've run marathons in the city of Cleveland, 5Ks, 10Ks. I've done CrossFit on and off for the last 12 years."
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Obviously, he's one of those guys who prioritizes health, and he has good reasons. He lost his parents young, in part due to their lifestyle choices.
"So I've been hyper focused throughout my life in trying to maintain fitness, good health, good eating habits, good sleeping habits, working out," he explained.
This past winter, Prewitt's wife gave him some personal training sessions. He scheduled the first one for two days after Christmas, Dec, 27. It's a day that would change his life, and perspective, forever.
"I go through the workout and, something wasn't quite right," he recalled. "My triceps, my biceps, my chest, my upper back, all hurt pretty tremendously."
Chris thought he was about to turn 49, had two sons aged 6 and 9 and maybe age was just catching up with him. He felt run down lately, a little less energetic, but this felt different.
The trainer and a physician recommended he get checked out. His wife and kids picked him up and they were heading to a local urgent care, but she missed the exit. That's the last thing Chris remembers before slumping in the seat and passing out.
"I was cold to the touch; something was clearly wrong," Prewitt said. "Richard Jacobs Cleveland Clinic Avon hospital was the next exit. She runs three red lights, gets over there, and runs inside. Frontline workers come out, drag me out of the car, put me on a gurney, and take me inside.
Chris later learned he needed 20 minutes of CPR and 12 defibrillator shocks before they could get a stable heart rate. Then he was taken to Cleveland Clinic Fairview Hospital for emergency stent surgery.
"I find myself in a position at a relatively young age, in a healthy condition, having a heart attack," he stated. My cardiologist told me that all my other arteries were free and clear, but the lateral artery — or descending artery — was fully blocked."
The first moral of his story is, if you think there's a chance a pain could be heart related, skip the urgent care and head straight to an emergency department.
"The difference between visiting an emergency room and an urgent care is that the moment the patient arrives having chest pains, they get triaged totally different from the rest of the patients," Cleveland Clinic interventional cardiologist Emad Nukta, M.D., says.
While Chris was in the hospital surrounded by family, he was asked about family history. He didn't think there was any history of heart disease, but an aunt spoke up and shared that his grandfather died of a heart attack at 48, the same age as Chris. He learned he couldn't run from his genetics.
"It's important to know your genetic history for any illness, not just heart disease," Nukuta noted. "For example, if you learn in your 50s that a patient's father dropped dead of a heart attack in their 40s, that's an alarm."
Chris attributes his recovery to his fitness level. He went through 12 weeks of cardiac rehab, and now he's back to running, although he'll be getting annual heart checks for the rest of his life.
He's educating his sons about their genetic risk, too. Even though they're young, they can learn that exercise and diet, in some cases, may not be enough when it comes to genetic risk. He also hopes other fathers listen to his message.
"If one father out there puts his kids and his wife and everyone else in front of his own health, can go get checked out, find out they have an issue, and be able to do something about it ahead of time, that would mean the world to me, if I could help save one life," he said.