The Heart Attack that Saved My Life and My Ride Back to Health

By Valerie Anderson and Russell C. Anderson

Russ survived a major heart attack, but what now? He could just endure life or he could fight to truly live. Russ chose to thrive, finding health through cycling.
    Starting as a novice, this heart-attack survivor became a road-biking warrior who rode hundreds of miles each month. He gained new confidence and a new meaning to his life. His tenacity and commitment to riding  impressed many, especially those closest to him.
    That devastating heart attack actually saved Russ' life for the better. This is a story to challenge and inspire the rest of us.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cyclist Press
• Release date: Jul 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201993344

Book preview

The

HEART ATTACK

that

SAVED MY LIFE

_____________________________________________

AND MY RIDE BACK TO HEALTH

_______________________________________________

RUSSELL C. ANDERSON

with VALERIE N. ANDERSON

THE HEART ATTACK THAT SAVED MY LIFE

Copyright © 2021 by Russell C. Anderson and Valerie N. Anderson

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this text may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, scanned, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission of the authors or publisher. The only exception is the reproduction of brief quotations as part of a review of this work.

Cover and interior photos copyright by Valerie N. Anderson. Title page art utilizes images that are under Creative Common license CC0- Public Domain.

Published by

CYCLIST PRESS

Image1

Russ at the highest elevation through the mountains above our city during a Ride Around the Bear event.

DEDICATION

The song, Living On A Prayer by Bon Jovi has been our song since Valerie and I became engaged in 1987, and it is still an important part of our marriage! Our entire adventure continues to be Living On A Prayer. I want to acknowledge the many who have helped along the way, including: Dr. Steven Wilson, Ride Yourself Fit, Yucaipa Bike Center, Redlands Cyclery, Don’s Bikes, Mike Quinlin, and Mark. I also dedicate this book to my son, James, who encouraged me and became a cyclist with me, which brought joy to my heart. Finally, and most importantly, I dedicate this book to my wife, Valerie, who continues to support my cycling and is still my best friend! I love her, very much and look forward to the journey that is ahead of us!

CHAPTER ONE

Life Before

JANUARY 28, 2001: the day my life changed forever. That was the day that at 39 years old, I had a heart attack. Of course, it didn’t start on that day; it actually began a long time before that, growing up in the Midwest.

I had a very good childhood, with a brother and wonderful parents in Illinois. My dad had a great job and provided well for his family; my mom was a stay-at-home mom, who was a very good cook. She had dinner on the table every night between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. My mom prepared wonderful meals, full of flavor, from different ethnic backgrounds, but leaned towards Italian meals. Many of the foods she prepared were extremely delicious; however, they had high fat content, cholesterol and calories. She always made a point to include a vegetable with each dinner, but I was very good at avoiding them. Despite being a heavy child, my parents emphasized eating everything on my plate.

I was always a pudgy kid, short and stocky, as I like to call it. My Mother was an excellent cook, but she cooked foods that were heavy and full of fat, and my parents told me to eat all of the food on my plate, because there were starving kids in China that did not have food to eat. As my wife pointed out after we got married, and I told our son that, she asked me if any of the food my Mother cooked made its way to China. I thought about it and realized that it was just a ruse to get me to eat everything on my plate. In school, I was always the last to be picked for teams, and I later wondered why my parents would have a fat boy eat everything on his plate!

My parents got my brother and I involved in the YMCA’s Indian Guides, going off-roading, camping and playing some sports, but I was always a pudgy kid. My parents tried to help me lose weight, but it was never really on my mind. My priorities were pretty much fun, motorcycles, school, and in that order. This went on for most of my childhood and into my teen years, until I met a friend in high school, who told me about weight lifting.

So, I did just that – I started weight lifting. I gained 20 pounds in less than a month in muscle and re-shaped my body, but my eating habits were still very poor.

In the coming years, I relocated to Southern California, finished high school, and made new friends, but continued in my playful, poor-eating habit lifestyle. I wasn’t really active in any sports, other than occasionally playing Frisbee or softball. After years of this, I married a wonderful woman, Valerie, who already had a great son named James, and we started a life together. Valerie and I bought a mobile home in lovely Yucaipa, a small city pressed up against the tall mountains that separated the Los Angeles sprawl from the far-emptier desert. Yucaipa sits high enough in the foothills (at about 2,500 ft. elevation) to give us distinct seasons and cleaner air than most of SoCal.

Because my wife and I are Christians who also enjoy motorcycles, we became involved in the Christian Motorcyclists Association (CMA). We joined a band that played at the motorcycle rallies, churches and events, and traveled with this band for almost three years. The CMA is a tremendous organization that preaches the Gospel to people who ride motorcycles from all different walks of life. A great bunch of people; however, they really did like to eat. In fact, they had a saying, ’Til We Eat Again! This did not help my health, because I was not making good choices on what to eat, and I ate all the time. Still, no serious exercise, except to my forearm, raising my fork up and down to my mouth.

During the time we were in the band, our son was involved in soccer, which also took up a lot of our time. We signed him up with the city’s soccer league, and we were committed to taking him to two practices a week and going to his games every Saturday.

In 1989, I started working at Cal-Mesa Steel, a local steel distributor and fabricator. The band we were in dissolved and we continued to be very involved in our son’s soccer.

We had attended four different churches that helped us to grow in our Christian walk during the first 12 years of our marriage. Up to this point, I really believed I had the typical diet of the American man – a lot of fast food and little exercise. In late 2000, I noticed the first symptoms that something was wrong.

CHAPTER TWO

Uh Oh. What was that?

WHILE I WAS at work one day in November of 2000, I noticed a streak going across my left eyeball. I had never seen anything like this before. I called my wife and told her I needed to go see an eye doctor. We made an appointment, and my eyes checked out fine, but my blood pressure was very high. I then went and saw my family doctor, Dr. Steven (Steve) Wilson.