Jeff had widowmaker heart attack two months after he turned 47. He was relatively young and had no symptoms.
Jeff is a technology consultant, working in the cloud and custom development arenas for a variety of exciting clients. In his personal life, he is a husband, an avid outdoors man and a runner.
He writes about his back-country hiking adventures and his day-to-day life with heart disease, among other topics, on his blog.
Jeff is also an active community member of the American Heart Association Support Network where people can find support to deal with the after effects of heart disease, either as survivors or caregivers.
Every aspect of my life changed after my heart attack, and cardiac depression, anxiety, and panic attacks became my new companions. But it wasn’t all bad. I’ve discovered so many things I’ve always been capable of that were hidden to me beforehand.
I began to run 5km, 10km, 15km, half marathons, and marathons. Then, as a means to combat panic attacks, I started mountain climbing and back-country hiking with the intent of forcing myself to focus on the beauty and possibilities that life gives, instead of feeding my own disastrous thinking.
Heart disease is incurable and chronic, yet, it’s not without gifts either. While I understand nothing is constant, I am having the time of my life right now and doing everything I can to live a good life after having survived something that could have killed me.
Every day is a promise. It’s up to us to make them good.