{"id":130570,"date":"2017-10-17T17:41:12","date_gmt":"2017-10-17T21:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?post_type=school-college-post&p=130570"},"modified":"2017-10-17T17:41:12","modified_gmt":"2017-10-17T21:41:12","slug":"marathoner-running-heart-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2017\/10\/marathoner-running-heart-disease\/","title":{"rendered":"Marathoner Out-Running His Heart Disease"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bill Donovan, 63, of Middletown just ran in the Eversource Hartford Marathon<\/em> on Oct. 14 finishing its half marathon race in 2 hours and 47 minutes. But you would never know this marathoner is a heart attack and three-time cardiac arrest survivor.<\/p>\n

For the race, Donovan\u2019s UConn Health Calhoun Cardiology Center<\/a> Cardiologist Dr. Heiko Schmitt<\/a> ran with his inspiring heart patient.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a great time,\u201d shared Donovan, who was joined for the second year in a row by his heart doctor. \u201cI tell Dr. Schmitt, when I run marathon races, everything else in my body seems to breakdown, from my knees, legs, and my feet. Everything hurts, but my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBill is an inspiring and amazing patient,\u201d said Schmitt. \u201cVery few patients run marathons after heart attacks or a cardiac arrest.\u00a0 He not only survived a heart attack and life threatening cardiac arrhythmias as a result of his heart attack, but he turned his life around and his exercise capacity is actually higher than before the heart attack.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bill
Bill Donovan crossing the finish line of the Boston Marathon in 2015 (Photo Courtesy of Bill Donovan).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Donovan\u2019s marathon against heart disease began at age 58 when he was surprised to experience his first signs of heart trouble. He had been previously diagnosed with high blood pressure so he started working out and eating better. As a result, he lost 50 pounds getting to his goal weight and successfully lowered his blood pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything was going well, but my diet history may have just caught up with me,\u201d said Donovan.<\/p>\n

One Sunday night he started getting tightness in his chest. At first he thought it was indigestion, but after speaking with his UConn Health doctors by phone, he visited the closest Emergency Department right away.<\/p>\n

Donovan indeed had a heart attack caused by two artery blockages. Two stents were placed to open the blockages and to relieve his chest pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter my heart attack, I felt great, so eventually I started exercising again on a treadmill and then running outside on the track,\u201d said Donovan. \u201cBy the anniversary of my heart attack I had run three half-marathons and was planning to run a full marathon by the next year\u2019s anniversary.\u201d<\/p>\n

He started training for the Hartford Marathon in 2012. \u201cBut on my last long training run before the marathon I started to get the same feeling of tightness in my chest I had experienced once before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later that week, he said goodnight to his wife and as he laid down to go to sleep he lost consciousness and experienced his first dangerous cardiac arrhythmia that caused his heart to stop.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy doctors told me I was very lucky, since my heart jump-started itself again,\u201d said Donovan. \u201cWhen I woke up my heart was racing and I was taken to the closest Emergency Department.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bill
Bill Donovan running the half marathon race of New York City’s 2016 Marathon (Photo Courtesy of Bill Donovan).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the hospital he suffered two cardiac arrests caused by ventricular tachycardia, a dangerous arrhythmia which causes a rapid heartbeat, and with the last needing an external defibrillator to re-start his heart.<\/p>\n

As a precaution, Schmitt, co-director of cardiac electrophysiology at the Calhoun Cardiology Center, placed an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) device under the skin of Donovan\u2019s chest to prevent his heart from stopping in the future.<\/p>\n

But with Donovan\u2019s first scheduled marathon race just two weeks away, Schmitt informed him, \u201cYou know you can\u2019t run this marathon. But I promise we will get you up and running again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd eight months later, I was all the way back,\u201d said Donovan who says his heart still feels strong as he continues to run, watch his diet, and take his heart medications.<\/p>\n

He adds: \u201cI live a normal life even as a heart attack and cardiac arrest survivor. I am going to stick with my heart health plan recommended by my doctors and keep running. I don\u2019t try to run harder or more than I should, I just do what I can and what I love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donovan stresses to others to really listen closely to their body\u2019s warning signs and seek medical attention when something just doesn\u2019t feel right.<\/p>\n

\u201cGet it checked out immediately, don\u2019t try to run or work through it.\u00a0 Don\u2019t overdo it when shoveling snow, or working in the yard,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd always listen to your doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donovan and Schmitt ran this year\u2019s half marathon in Hartford as part of the UConn Foundation Team<\/a> raising funds to advance the Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiology Center\u2019s <\/a>clinical and research work fighting heart disease.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marathoner Bill Donovan is out-running his heart disease one race at a time. This year he was once again joined by his heart doctor, Dr. Heiko Schmitt, for the running of the Hartford Marathon. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":130525,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1868],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1873],"class_list":["post-130570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-meds"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-12 14:28:13","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/130525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130570"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=130570"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=130570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}