42KM ROW MARATHON FOR THE HEART FOUNDATION
Time: 7am
Date: 8th Nov 2020
Location: Fibre Active Embleton
Goals: To raise awareness of heart disease and funds for the Heart Foundation
‘Hi to all – My name is Dave Barker, Fibre Active member (6 months) and back in Aug 2019, 6.30 am, I was on a training run for the City 2 Surf. Out of nowhere I paused with a stitch like pain in my chest, pressing on, a couple of mins later the veins in my legs started to pop up and I knew something was not quite right!
Off to the GP and reassured that all should be fine based on my medical history and lifestyle. I eat well, have normal BP and cholesterol, and have always exercised as part of my overall lifestyle. As a precaution, and just to check, the GP sent me off for a CT angiogram.
A week later, the scan results were in and revealed that my main artery to the heart was 95%+ blocked – I have heart disease. Alarmingly, this meant that I was at very high risk of a likely fatal heart attack at any time. I was immediately admitted to hospital where they performed an angioplasty (a stenting procedure) to re-open the artery.
Fear, mild panic and ongoing anxiety are routine post procedure emotions following my surgery, and despite best efforts and medications especially when a follow up scan in February this year showed that my artery was 30-50% blocked again.
It’s startling and sobering fact that 1 in 4 Australians will at some time find themselves impacted by this condition, and it’s been my inherited genes and the unique way in which my artery wraps around my heart that have led to my condition and the blockage.
I was lucky, I listened to my body, acted, and am hugely grateful for a $400 scan that saved my life for sure. The Heart Foundation have helped from day 2 in hospital and continue to assist wrt my mental health, a well as ongoing management of the disease.
My motivation for sharing? Well simple, it feels good to do so, it’s important also to raise awareness of the biggest killer in Australia. All reading this are no doubt fit, active and healthy, but you never know what is going on in there, we are all different – (but the same) and vulnerable to this sneaky disease. So please from me:
– Exercise is so important; we’re made to move.
– Nutrition is so important, eat well.
– And if you have a history in the family, seek advice and ask if a scan will help be more certain of the status of your heart.’
‘The box team are just great and huge motivation for me to give it a crack and do something different, Euan (my son) and I are planning on being regular members of the Fibre Active crew for some time to come.’
David Barker
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So FibreFam, on Sunday 8th Nov, Dave will be rowing 42km for the Heart Foundation.
The link for any donation (awareness is key here but if you can support the HF, he is asking for a donation to the value of a cup of coffee).
He has wanted to do it at Fibre Active Embleton where he hopes for support and company on the day.
42km for a man alone will take around 4hours. We will kick off the event at 7am.
I thought how we could all get involved and one of the ways was to make up groups of 4 to do the 42km row and keep Dave company on the day. In teams of 4, that is 10,500km each.
Allow 1 hour for each teammate to finish their row. You don’t have to be there for the whole 4 hours. A couple of years ago, a group of us did 10km as a challenge and it took us around 50mins to complete.
We will also be raffling off some prizes that Dave has organised (vegetable and fruit boxes, Healthy eating books) during the week.
How do you get involved?
– Buy raffle tickets
– Make a donation to the link below where dave has registered to do a marathon on a single day for the Heart Foundation
– Get a team for the 42km row for Sunday. Comment your team name and members below. We will organise number of rowing machines. I am most certainly in.
Jess.
