On Aug 30, 7:36*pm, Mike Vandeman wrote:
That's a pretty big sacrifice, for a momentary thrill! But
intelligence is not the mountain bikers' long suit....

Mike

http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/ne...ighter-bounces...

Derbyshire firefighter bounces back from broken neck and back

07:30 - 30-August-2008
snipped for Clarity --
I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to
humans ("pure habitat"). Want to help? (I spent the previous 8
years fighting auto dependence and road construction.)

Please don't put a cell phone next to any part of your body that you are fond of!

http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...-24331,00.html



Kamahl Cogdon

May 04, 2007 12:00am

LIFE was stressful and there was no time for exercise, but Melinda
Christophersen never dreamed she was a candidate for a heart attack.
The 37-year-old mother of two was working on the computer at home
alone on March 17 when the dull pain struck.

"I started to get some pain in the centre of my chest and the middle
of my back," she said.

"I thought I had indigestion and tried to drink some water, but that
didn't do anything.

"I went back to the computer and tried to ignore it, but my arm
started to go weak and I couldn't type. My jaw started aching and I
couldn't get my thoughts together."

Ms Christophersen then made a decision that quite possibly saved her
life. She went to neighbours for help and called an ambulance.

Ms Christophersen was given medication and monitored on the way to the
Royal Melbourne Hospital, where she received more treatment and was
kept in overnight.

But the pain returned in the early hours of the morning and Ms
Christophersen was rushed into surgery.

Three stents were inserted to open the blocked arteries that caused
her heart attack.

The next day, the gravity of the health crisis dawned on Ms
Christophersen.

"Had I not gone to my neighbours and to hospital, I may not be here,"
she said.

Ms Christophersen is not the stereotypical heart attack victim.

She is relatively young, had never had health problems, ate a healthy
diet, was not overweight, did not have high blood pressure or
cholesterol levels, and did not smoke.

But looking back, she knows she did have some risk factors.

Her father had suffered a mild heart attack 25 years earlier and her
own life had been extremely stressful over the last few years.

Ms Christophersen was a scientist at Kodak's Coburg North factory and
was on maternity leave after the birth of her second child, Matilde,
now 2, when it was shut down and she lost her job of more than seven
years.

She was also dealing with significant hearing loss as a complication

of pregnancy. About the same time, her son, Gabriel, now 4, was
diagnosed with autism.

"The combination of all these things made me really stressed," Ms
Christophersen said.

She also admitted exercise was not part of her daily routine, spending
long hours sitting at her work computer.

Heart Foundation chief executive Kathy Bell said Ms Christophersen's
story was a timely Heart Week reminder that signs of heart attack
should never be ignored.

She said less than 15 per cent of Australians got to hospital within
an hour of experiencing the warning signs of heart attack and more
than half of deaths occurred before people arrived there.

"What that tells us is that a lot of lives could be saved if people
recognised the signs of heart attack and dialled 000 and got to
hospital faster," Ms Bell said.

She said ambulances were not only the fastest way to get to hospital,
but were also well equipped to provide life-saving treatment.

She said it was also important women understood they were not immune
to the risks of heart attack.

Ms Bell said coronary heart disease, which is mainly heart attack, was
the biggest killer of both men and women in Australia.

Yet, Heart Foundation research had found only 3 per cent of people
knew this.

Most thought the biggest killer of women was some form of cancer,
including 4 per cent who nominated prostate cancer as the greatest
killer.

"That is very concerning, considering women don't have a prostate," Ms
Bell said.

Be careful Mikey! Spending time working on a computer may be
dangerous to your health. Maybe, you should spent the next 8 years
working on a computer free zone and exercising....................