Mountain Biking Causes Heart Attacks!

So much for the alleged "health benefits" of mountain biking....

Mike


http://www.pressdemocrat.com/EarlyEd...ate=01/26/2008

Different outcomes for 2 men felled by same ailment at Annadel park

By DEREK J. MOORE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Saturday, January 26, 2008


Had Randy Nash been on the fire road just a few minutes earlier, he
might have seen Carl Triola or heard the sirens of the ambulance that
whisked the cross country coach away.


But the 54-year-old lumber salesman and avid mountain biker had no
idea anything had been amiss when he and four friends reached a bridge
inside Annadel State Park in Santa Rosa and began their grueling
ascent.

Two hours later, the father of four lay on a trail high up in the
park,

dying from sudden cardiac arrest

as his friends frantically attempted CPR.

Triola, in the meantime, was fighting for his own life.

Having turned around at the same bridge where Nash pressed on, the
38-year-old Casa Grande High School coach collapsed in a parking lot
on Annadel's western edge.

His heart suddenly stopped beating.

Only the quick work of a retired cardiac nurse who happened to witness
Triola's collapse and the timely arrival of paramedics who shocked his
heart saved the man's life.

What many are struggling to understand is how two seemingly fit men
could suffer such calamity while doing something that is supposed to
be good for the body and soul.

The answer is a revealing tale of roads not taken, warning signs not
heeded, luck and the workings of the human heart.

Fateful decision

Triola and Nash arrived at Annadel about an hour apart Jan. 13, a
bitingly cold but sunny Sunday morning that was a welcome relief from
several days of lashing rain and wind.

Triola jogged to the park at about 9 a.m. from the Hoen Avenue home he
shares with his wife, Vicky, and Luke, their 7-year-old son.

He went in through the park's Stonehedge entrance and connected with
Canyon Trail, a fire road that starts out flat before ascending
sharply into the hills.

It was to be, by Triola's standards, a short, four-mile jaunt. He runs
regularly and has completed two marathons, including a respectable
4-hour, 23-minute finish last spring at the Napa Valley Marathon.

But he decided to cut it short that morning because he hadn't been
training as much and he donated blood the day before.

At the bridge where Canyon Trail splits with Spring Creek Trail,
Triola turned around.

That decision probably saved his life.

"You don't think one choice will make a difference," he said. "I
decided to stay on the main trail and come back."

When he collapsed in the parking lot, the retired nurse and an
unidentified man began CPR immediately.

Paramedics were on scene within four minutes.

"He got medical attention early. That's why he survived," said Dr.
Peter Chang-Sing, chairman of Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital's
cardiovascular surgery and medicine department.

Most people don't survive. Sudden cardiac death is the nation's
leading killer, claiming 325,000 lives annually. Only one in six
victims survive the initial attack without lasting brain damage,
Chang-Sing said.

Nash had no such luck.

His ride took him farther and farther into Annadel's remote reaches.

With its close proximity to Santa Rosa, Annadel can seem like a
relatively benign playground. The reality is that with 27 miles of
trails spread across 5,000 acres, it can be as rugged as any rural
outpost.

Two park rangers typically patrol that vast area, although the park
currently has a vacancy. Volunteers on horseback and bikes also help
out.

"It would be virtually impossible to be on every trail and be ready
for every incident. We do our best with what we've got," said
Supervising Park Ranger Angy Nowicki.

Nash was particularly out of range. He collapsed on Marsh Trail, which
at 1,320 feet represents Annadel's highest point.

As usual, he'd gotten up around 6:30 a.m. at the Rincon Valley home he
shares with Ellen, his wife of 26 years, and 21-year-old Jordan, the
couple's son.

The couple, who met while both were at Santa Rosa High School in the
1970s, discussed Nash's retirement plans and about upping his life
insurance policy. Then he drove off with his $1,500 Specialized
mountain bike in the back of his work truck.

"We were starting to think about retirement because a lot of our
friends were retiring at 50," said Ellen Nash, an administrative
assistant for the California Highway Patrol. "But Randy loved to
work."

Funny and outgoing, Nash had worked for Mead Clark Lumber Co. since
the early 1990s. He'd been active all his life, but after learning
three years ago that he had high cholesterol, he was trying to trim
some weight off his 190-pound frame.

Looking back, Ellen Nash said she'd recently noticed her husband would
get winded simply bringing wood in for the stove.

A grueling climb

At Annadel, Nash joined up with four members of his regular riding
group: Blake Ridgway, his wife, Jean, Rich Drady and Leighton Schnur.

Ridgway, who'd known Nash for almost 30 years, worked with him at Mead
Clark, as did Schnur. Drady is a Santa Rosa contractor.

Ridgway said the group started out at about 10 a.m. with a warm-up lap
around Howarth Park and Spring Lake before entering Annadel on Canyon
Trail and heading for the summit, a route that would take them about
eight miles and include an elevation gain of about 1,000 feet.

"It's about as tough as it gets up there," Ridgway said.

Emerging from the redwoods on Ridge Trail, the group stopped to admire
the view. Sunlight streamed through clouds high above the city.

"My God," Nash said. "This is so unbelievable."

Near Ledson Marsh, the group paused again around noon to rest and
refuel with energy bars. Nash told an off-color joke that got everyone
laughing. Then it was back on the trail.

The group had ridden about 100 feet on Marsh Trail when Jean Ridgway
and Schnur saw Nash slump over on his bike and crash.

Up ahead, Blake Ridgway and Drady heard Jean Ridgway whistling loudly
and rode back to discover Nash on the ground. He wasn't breathing.

Blake Ridgway, who has undergone CPR training, tried to breathe air
into his friend's lungs while Drady pushed on his chest.

It already was too late.

Sudden death

"Five minutes into it - I don't remember saying this - but I turned to
everyone and said, This is not good. We're losing him,'" Blake
Ridgway recalled. "He wasn't breathing on his own and he had no
pulse."

About 20 minutes later, in response to a cell-phone call to 911, the
Sonoma County sheriff's helicopter landed at Ledson Marsh. But the
only thing deputies could do was pronounce Nash dead.

"You start out the morning with five people, and you have to ride back
with four. That was tough," said Drady, who had the tough task of
driving Nash's truck home.

Ellen Nash came outside when the group pulled up. So, too, did the
neighbors when they heard her scream.

"It was absolutely gut-wrenching," Blake Ridgway said. "It was almost
a second death watching Ellen and Jordan go through that."

Both Nash and Triola were at risk for sudden cardiac death, but for
different reasons.

Sudden cardiac death is the result of an abrupt and rapid loss of
heart function in a person who may or may not have diagnosed heart
disease.

The term "heart attack," on the other hand, refers to the death of
heart muscle tissue due to a loss of blood supply. It, too, can cause
sudden death.

Nash's death certificate states that he died from sudden cardiac death
resulting from coronary artery disease, which is the fatty buildup in
the arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle.

A contributing factor, according to the document, was "physical
exertion of bicycling."

Warning signs

There may have been little anyone could do to help Nash after he
collapsed. Most victims of sudden cardiac death require help in four
to six minutes. But there were warning signs that could have alerted
him to trouble.

Besides taking Lipitor to control his cholesterol, he'd complained to
his wife about chest pains. On bike rides a week before his death,
Nash remarked to his buddies that the effort seemed to be getting
harder.

He also had a family history of heart disease - his father had had two
open-heart surgeries.

In hindsight, Ellen Nash said, her husband should not have been riding
such a challenging route the day he died.

"It was too strenuous," she said. "But did he know that? He was having
the time of his life."

Triola had no warning anything was wrong with him, however.

Tests afterward revealed one of the arteries leading to his heart is
out of place. Unknown to the track coach, it had been that way since
birth and was restricting blood flow to his heart.

That produced an arrhythmia - an abnormal heart rhythm - that
ultimately led to his heart stopping.

Chang-Sing said the men might have benefited from a nuclear stress
test, in which a small amount of radioactive material is injected into
a person and traced to reveal any problems with the heart.

He recommends such tests for men over 50 and for post-menopausal
women, as well as for anyone who has risk factors for heart disease,
including those with hypertension or diabetes.

"Exercise can be a trigger and put a strain on the heart in the wrong
patient who does not have a clear understanding of what their
underlying heart condition might be," he said.

A new life

Drady said he's already scheduled an appointment for his first-ever
stress test. The lesson he learned from Nash's death: "Don't just blow
off those little things. When you feel something that's not right, get
it checked out."

Triola is convinced that running actually improved his odds.
Amazingly, his heart muscle suffered no lasting damage from the
momentary pause.

Doctors implanted a defibrillator in Triola's chest that automatically
will deliver a shock should his heart's rhythm ever go haywire again.
He's also considering open-heart surgery to fix the errant artery.

It's likely he'll never be able to run like he once did. On the other
hand, he should be around for the birth of his second child six months
from now.

"I'm looking forward to that and spending more time with my son and
wife," he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Derek J. Moore at 521-5336 or
.
--
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

You are an idiot.

Fantastic!

"Mike Vandeman" skrev i en meddelelse
...
So much for the alleged "health benefits" of mountain biking....

Mike


http://www.pressdemocrat.com/EarlyEd...ate=01/26/2008

Different outcomes for 2 men felled by same ailment at Annadel park

By DEREK J. MOORE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Saturday, January 26, 2008


Had Randy Nash been on the fire road just a few minutes earlier, he
might have seen Carl Triola or heard the sirens of the ambulance that
whisked the cross country coach away.


But the 54-year-old lumber salesman and avid mountain biker had no
idea anything had been amiss when he and four friends reached a bridge
inside Annadel State Park in Santa Rosa and began their grueling
ascent.

Two hours later, the father of four lay on a trail high up in the
park,

dying from sudden cardiac arrest

as his friends frantically attempted CPR.

Triola, in the meantime, was fighting for his own life.

Having turned around at the same bridge where Nash pressed on, the
38-year-old Casa Grande High School coach collapsed in a parking lot
on Annadel's western edge.

His heart suddenly stopped beating.

Only the quick work of a retired cardiac nurse who happened to witness
Triola's collapse and the timely arrival of paramedics who shocked his
heart saved the man's life.

What many are struggling to understand is how two seemingly fit men
could suffer such calamity while doing something that is supposed to
be good for the body and soul.

The answer is a revealing tale of roads not taken, warning signs not
heeded, luck and the workings of the human heart.

Fateful decision

Triola and Nash arrived at Annadel about an hour apart Jan. 13, a
bitingly cold but sunny Sunday morning that was a welcome relief from
several days of lashing rain and wind.

Triola jogged to the park at about 9 a.m. from the Hoen Avenue home he
shares with his wife, Vicky, and Luke, their 7-year-old son.

He went in through the park's Stonehedge entrance and connected with
Canyon Trail, a fire road that starts out flat before ascending
sharply into the hills.

It was to be, by Triola's standards, a short, four-mile jaunt. He runs
regularly and has completed two marathons, including a respectable
4-hour, 23-minute finish last spring at the Napa Valley Marathon.

But he decided to cut it short that morning because he hadn't been
training as much and he donated blood the day before.

At the bridge where Canyon Trail splits with Spring Creek Trail,
Triola turned around.

That decision probably saved his life.

"You don't think one choice will make a difference," he said. "I
decided to stay on the main trail and come back."

When he collapsed in the parking lot, the retired nurse and an
unidentified man began CPR immediately.

Paramedics were on scene within four minutes.

"He got medical attention early. That's why he survived," said Dr.
Peter Chang-Sing, chairman of Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital's
cardiovascular surgery and medicine department.

Most people don't survive. Sudden cardiac death is the nation's
leading killer, claiming 325,000 lives annually. Only one in six
victims survive the initial attack without lasting brain damage,
Chang-Sing said.

Nash had no such luck.

His ride took him farther and farther into Annadel's remote reaches.

With its close proximity to Santa Rosa, Annadel can seem like a
relatively benign playground. The reality is that with 27 miles of
trails spread across 5,000 acres, it can be as rugged as any rural
outpost.

Two park rangers typically patrol that vast area, although the park
currently has a vacancy. Volunteers on horseback and bikes also help
out.

"It would be virtually impossible to be on every trail and be ready
for every incident. We do our best with what we've got," said
Supervising Park Ranger Angy Nowicki.

Nash was particularly out of range. He collapsed on Marsh Trail, which
at 1,320 feet represents Annadel's highest point.

As usual, he'd gotten up around 6:30 a.m. at the Rincon Valley home he
shares with Ellen, his wife of 26 years, and 21-year-old Jordan, the
couple's son.

The couple, who met while both were at Santa Rosa High School in the
1970s, discussed Nash's retirement plans and about upping his life
insurance policy. Then he drove off with his $1,500 Specialized
mountain bike in the back of his work truck.

"We were starting to think about retirement because a lot of our
friends were retiring at 50," said Ellen Nash, an administrative
assistant for the California Highway Patrol. "But Randy loved to
work."

Funny and outgoing, Nash had worked for Mead Clark Lumber Co. since
the early 1990s. He'd been active all his life, but after learning
three years ago that he had high cholesterol, he was trying to trim
some weight off his 190-pound frame.

Looking back, Ellen Nash said she'd recently noticed her husband would
get winded simply bringing wood in for the stove.

A grueling climb

At Annadel, Nash joined up with four members of his regular riding
group: Blake Ridgway, his wife, Jean, Rich Drady and Leighton Schnur.

Ridgway, who'd known Nash for almost 30 years, worked with him at Mead
Clark, as did Schnur. Drady is a Santa Rosa contractor.

Ridgway said the group started out at about 10 a.m. with a warm-up lap
around Howarth Park and Spring Lake before entering Annadel on Canyon
Trail and heading for the summit, a route that would take them about
eight miles and include an elevation gain of about 1,000 feet.

"It's about as tough as it gets up there," Ridgway said.

Emerging from the redwoods on Ridge Trail, the group stopped to admire
the view. Sunlight streamed through clouds high above the city.

"My God," Nash said. "This is so unbelievable."

Near Ledson Marsh, the group paused again around noon to rest and
refuel with energy bars. Nash told an off-color joke that got everyone
laughing. Then it was back on the trail.

The group had ridden about 100 feet on Marsh Trail when Jean Ridgway
and Schnur saw Nash slump over on his bike and crash.

Up ahead, Blake Ridgway and Drady heard Jean Ridgway whistling loudly
and rode back to discover Nash on the ground. He wasn't breathing.

Blake Ridgway, who has undergone CPR training, tried to breathe air
into his friend's lungs while Drady pushed on his chest.

It already was too late.

Sudden death

"Five minutes into it - I don't remember saying this - but I turned to
everyone and said, This is not good. We're losing him,'" Blake
Ridgway recalled. "He wasn't breathing on his own and he had no
pulse."

About 20 minutes later, in response to a cell-phone call to 911, the
Sonoma County sheriff's helicopter landed at Ledson Marsh. But the
only thing deputies could do was pronounce Nash dead.

"You start out the morning with five people, and you have to ride back
with four. That was tough," said Drady, who had the tough task of
driving Nash's truck home.

Ellen Nash came outside when the group pulled up. So, too, did the
neighbors when they heard her scream.

"It was absolutely gut-wrenching," Blake Ridgway said. "It was almost
a second death watching Ellen and Jordan go through that."

Both Nash and Triola were at risk for sudden cardiac death, but for
different reasons.

Sudden cardiac death is the result of an abrupt and rapid loss of
heart function in a person who may or may not have diagnosed heart
disease.

The term "heart attack," on the other hand, refers to the death of
heart muscle tissue due to a loss of blood supply. It, too, can cause
sudden death.

Nash's death certificate states that he died from sudden cardiac death
resulting from coronary artery disease, which is the fatty buildup in
the arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle.

A contributing factor, according to the document, was "physical
exertion of bicycling."

Warning signs

There may have been little anyone could do to help Nash after he
collapsed. Most victims of sudden cardiac death require help in four
to six minutes. But there were warning signs that could have alerted
him to trouble.

Besides taking Lipitor to control his cholesterol, he'd complained to
his wife about chest pains. On bike rides a week before his death,
Nash remarked to his buddies that the effort seemed to be getting
harder.

He also had a family history of heart disease - his father had had two
open-heart surgeries.

In hindsight, Ellen Nash said, her husband should not have been riding
such a challenging route the day he died.

"It was too strenuous," she said. "But did he know that? He was having
the time of his life."

Triola had no warning anything was wrong with him, however.

Tests afterward revealed one of the arteries leading to his heart is
out of place. Unknown to the track coach, it had been that way since
birth and was restricting blood flow to his heart.

That produced an arrhythmia - an abnormal heart rhythm - that
ultimately led to his heart stopping.

Chang-Sing said the men might have benefited from a nuclear stress
test, in which a small amount of radioactive material is injected into
a person and traced to reveal any problems with the heart.

He recommends such tests for men over 50 and for post-menopausal
women, as well as for anyone who has risk factors for heart disease,
including those with hypertension or diabetes.

"Exercise can be a trigger and put a strain on the heart in the wrong
patient who does not have a clear understanding of what their
underlying heart condition might be," he said.

A new life

Drady said he's already scheduled an appointment for his first-ever
stress test. The lesson he learned from Nash's death: "Don't just blow
off those little things. When you feel something that's not right, get
it checked out."

Triola is convinced that running actually improved his odds.
Amazingly, his heart muscle suffered no lasting damage from the
momentary pause.

Doctors implanted a defibrillator in Triola's chest that automatically
will deliver a shock should his heart's rhythm ever go haywire again.
He's also considering open-heart surgery to fix the errant artery.

It's likely he'll never be able to run like he once did. On the other
hand, he should be around for the birth of his second child six months
from now.

"I'm looking forward to that and spending more time with my son and
wife," he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Derek J. Moore at 521-5336 or
.
--
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

two issues here. We don't know what they ate, and we don't know the
pollution levels where they ran and worked athough knowing Santa Rosa,it was
probably good. Maybe his doctor should have beeen more keenly aware of some
problems mentioned.Additionally there are some substantial issues that no
one went over regarding biking in parks and mountain., and if interested,
one can email me at

wrote in message
...
Fantastic!

"Mike Vandeman" skrev i en meddelelse
...
So much for the alleged "health benefits" of mountain biking....

Mike


http://www.pressdemocrat.com/EarlyEd...ate=01/26/2008

Different outcomes for 2 men felled by same ailment at Annadel park

By DEREK J. MOORE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Saturday, January 26, 2008


Had Randy Nash been on the fire road just a few minutes earlier, he
might have seen Carl Triola or heard the sirens of the ambulance that
whisked the cross country coach away.


But the 54-year-old lumber salesman and avid mountain biker had no
idea anything had been amiss when he and four friends reached a bridge
inside Annadel State Park in Santa Rosa and began their grueling
ascent.

Two hours later, the father of four lay on a trail high up in the
park,

dying from sudden cardiac arrest

as his friends frantically attempted CPR.

Triola, in the meantime, was fighting for his own life.

Having turned around at the same bridge where Nash pressed on, the
38-year-old Casa Grande High School coach collapsed in a parking lot
on Annadel's western edge.

His heart suddenly stopped beating.

Only the quick work of a retired cardiac nurse who happened to witness
Triola's collapse and the timely arrival of paramedics who shocked his
heart saved the man's life.

What many are struggling to understand is how two seemingly fit men
could suffer such calamity while doing something that is supposed to
be good for the body and soul.

The answer is a revealing tale of roads not taken, warning signs not
heeded, luck and the workings of the human heart.

Fateful decision

Triola and Nash arrived at Annadel about an hour apart Jan. 13, a
bitingly cold but sunny Sunday morning that was a welcome relief from
several days of lashing rain and wind.

Triola jogged to the park at about 9 a.m. from the Hoen Avenue home he
shares with his wife, Vicky, and Luke, their 7-year-old son.

He went in through the park's Stonehedge entrance and connected with
Canyon Trail, a fire road that starts out flat before ascending
sharply into the hills.

It was to be, by Triola's standards, a short, four-mile jaunt. He runs
regularly and has completed two marathons, including a respectable
4-hour, 23-minute finish last spring at the Napa Valley Marathon.

But he decided to cut it short that morning because he hadn't been
training as much and he donated blood the day before.

At the bridge where Canyon Trail splits with Spring Creek Trail,
Triola turned around.

That decision probably saved his life.

"You don't think one choice will make a difference," he said. "I
decided to stay on the main trail and come back."

When he collapsed in the parking lot, the retired nurse and an
unidentified man began CPR immediately.

Paramedics were on scene within four minutes.

"He got medical attention early. That's why he survived," said Dr.
Peter Chang-Sing, chairman of Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital's
cardiovascular surgery and medicine department.

Most people don't survive. Sudden cardiac death is the nation's
leading killer, claiming 325,000 lives annually. Only one in six
victims survive the initial attack without lasting brain damage,
Chang-Sing said.

Nash had no such luck.

His ride took him farther and farther into Annadel's remote reaches.

With its close proximity to Santa Rosa, Annadel can seem like a
relatively benign playground. The reality is that with 27 miles of
trails spread across 5,000 acres, it can be as rugged as any rural
outpost.

Two park rangers typically patrol that vast area, although the park
currently has a vacancy. Volunteers on horseback and bikes also help
out.

"It would be virtually impossible to be on every trail and be ready
for every incident. We do our best with what we've got," said
Supervising Park Ranger Angy Nowicki.

Nash was particularly out of range. He collapsed on Marsh Trail, which
at 1,320 feet represents Annadel's highest point.

As usual, he'd gotten up around 6:30 a.m. at the Rincon Valley home he
shares with Ellen, his wife of 26 years, and 21-year-old Jordan, the
couple's son.

The couple, who met while both were at Santa Rosa High School in the
1970s, discussed Nash's retirement plans and about upping his life
insurance policy. Then he drove off with his $1,500 Specialized
mountain bike in the back of his work truck.

"We were starting to think about retirement because a lot of our
friends were retiring at 50," said Ellen Nash, an administrative
assistant for the California Highway Patrol. "But Randy loved to
work."

Funny and outgoing, Nash had worked for Mead Clark Lumber Co. since
the early 1990s. He'd been active all his life, but after learning
three years ago that he had high cholesterol, he was trying to trim
some weight off his 190-pound frame.

Looking back, Ellen Nash said she'd recently noticed her husband would
get winded simply bringing wood in for the stove.

A grueling climb

At Annadel, Nash joined up with four members of his regular riding
group: Blake Ridgway, his wife, Jean, Rich Drady and Leighton Schnur.

Ridgway, who'd known Nash for almost 30 years, worked with him at Mead
Clark, as did Schnur. Drady is a Santa Rosa contractor.

Ridgway said the group started out at about 10 a.m. with a warm-up lap
around Howarth Park and Spring Lake before entering Annadel on Canyon
Trail and heading for the summit, a route that would take them about
eight miles and include an elevation gain of about 1,000 feet.

"It's about as tough as it gets up there," Ridgway said.

Emerging from the redwoods on Ridge Trail, the group stopped to admire
the view. Sunlight streamed through clouds high above the city.

"My God," Nash said. "This is so unbelievable."

Near Ledson Marsh, the group paused again around noon to rest and
refuel with energy bars. Nash told an off-color joke that got everyone
laughing. Then it was back on the trail.

The group had ridden about 100 feet on Marsh Trail when Jean Ridgway
and Schnur saw Nash slump over on his bike and crash.

Up ahead, Blake Ridgway and Drady heard Jean Ridgway whistling loudly
and rode back to discover Nash on the ground. He wasn't breathing.

Blake Ridgway, who has undergone CPR training, tried to breathe air
into his friend's lungs while Drady pushed on his chest.

It already was too late.

Sudden death

"Five minutes into it - I don't remember saying this - but I turned to
everyone and said, This is not good. We're losing him,'" Blake
Ridgway recalled. "He wasn't breathing on his own and he had no
pulse."

About 20 minutes later, in response to a cell-phone call to 911, the
Sonoma County sheriff's helicopter landed at Ledson Marsh. But the
only thing deputies could do was pronounce Nash dead.

"You start out the morning with five people, and you have to ride back
with four. That was tough," said Drady, who had the tough task of
driving Nash's truck home.

Ellen Nash came outside when the group pulled up. So, too, did the
neighbors when they heard her scream.

"It was absolutely gut-wrenching," Blake Ridgway said. "It was almost
a second death watching Ellen and Jordan go through that."

Both Nash and Triola were at risk for sudden cardiac death, but for
different reasons.

Sudden cardiac death is the result of an abrupt and rapid loss of
heart function in a person who may or may not have diagnosed heart
disease.

The term "heart attack," on the other hand, refers to the death of
heart muscle tissue due to a loss of blood supply. It, too, can cause
sudden death.

Nash's death certificate states that he died from sudden cardiac death
resulting from coronary artery disease, which is the fatty buildup in
the arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle.

A contributing factor, according to the document, was "physical
exertion of bicycling."

Warning signs

There may have been little anyone could do to help Nash after he
collapsed. Most victims of sudden cardiac death require help in four
to six minutes. But there were warning signs that could have alerted
him to trouble.

Besides taking Lipitor to control his cholesterol, he'd complained to
his wife about chest pains. On bike rides a week before his death,
Nash remarked to his buddies that the effort seemed to be getting
harder.

He also had a family history of heart disease - his father had had two
open-heart surgeries.

In hindsight, Ellen Nash said, her husband should not have been riding
such a challenging route the day he died.

"It was too strenuous," she said. "But did he know that? He was having
the time of his life."

Triola had no warning anything was wrong with him, however.

Tests afterward revealed one of the arteries leading to his heart is
out of place. Unknown to the track coach, it had been that way since
birth and was restricting blood flow to his heart.

That produced an arrhythmia - an abnormal heart rhythm - that
ultimately led to his heart stopping.

Chang-Sing said the men might have benefited from a nuclear stress
test, in which a small amount of radioactive material is injected into
a person and traced to reveal any problems with the heart.

He recommends such tests for men over 50 and for post-menopausal
women, as well as for anyone who has risk factors for heart disease,
including those with hypertension or diabetes.

"Exercise can be a trigger and put a strain on the heart in the wrong
patient who does not have a clear understanding of what their
underlying heart condition might be," he said.

A new life

Drady said he's already scheduled an appointment for his first-ever
stress test. The lesson he learned from Nash's death: "Don't just blow
off those little things. When you feel something that's not right, get
it checked out."

Triola is convinced that running actually improved his odds.
Amazingly, his heart muscle suffered no lasting damage from the
momentary pause.

Doctors implanted a defibrillator in Triola's chest that automatically
will deliver a shock should his heart's rhythm ever go haywire again.
He's also considering open-heart surgery to fix the errant artery.

It's likely he'll never be able to run like he once did. On the other
hand, he should be around for the birth of his second child six months
from now.

"I'm looking forward to that and spending more time with my son and
wife," he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Derek J. Moore at 521-5336 or
.
--
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

On Sun, 27 Jan 2008 06:00:46 GMT, "steb" wrote:

two issues here. We don't know what they ate, and we don't know the
pollution levels where they ran and worked athough knowing Santa Rosa,it was
probably good. Maybe his doctor should have beeen more keenly aware of some
problems mentioned.

On the other hand, maybe he shouldn't have been practicing an extreme
sport such as mountain biking, which is perfectly designed to create
heart attacks. DUH!

Additionally there are some substantial issues that no
one went over regarding biking in parks and mountain., and if interested,
one can email me at

wrote in message
k...
Fantastic!

"Mike Vandeman" skrev i en meddelelse
...
So much for the alleged "health benefits" of mountain biking....

Mike


http://www.pressdemocrat.com/EarlyEd...ate=01/26/2008

Different outcomes for 2 men felled by same ailment at Annadel park

By DEREK J. MOORE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Saturday, January 26, 2008


Had Randy Nash been on the fire road just a few minutes earlier, he
might have seen Carl Triola or heard the sirens of the ambulance that
whisked the cross country coach away.


But the 54-year-old lumber salesman and avid mountain biker had no
idea anything had been amiss when he and four friends reached a bridge
inside Annadel State Park in Santa Rosa and began their grueling
ascent.

Two hours later, the father of four lay on a trail high up in the
park,

dying from sudden cardiac arrest

as his friends frantically attempted CPR.

Triola, in the meantime, was fighting for his own life.

Having turned around at the same bridge where Nash pressed on, the
38-year-old Casa Grande High School coach collapsed in a parking lot
on Annadel's western edge.

His heart suddenly stopped beating.

Only the quick work of a retired cardiac nurse who happened to witness
Triola's collapse and the timely arrival of paramedics who shocked his
heart saved the man's life.

What many are struggling to understand is how two seemingly fit men
could suffer such calamity while doing something that is supposed to
be good for the body and soul.

The answer is a revealing tale of roads not taken, warning signs not
heeded, luck and the workings of the human heart.

Fateful decision

Triola and Nash arrived at Annadel about an hour apart Jan. 13, a
bitingly cold but sunny Sunday morning that was a welcome relief from
several days of lashing rain and wind.

Triola jogged to the park at about 9 a.m. from the Hoen Avenue home he
shares with his wife, Vicky, and Luke, their 7-year-old son.

He went in through the park's Stonehedge entrance and connected with
Canyon Trail, a fire road that starts out flat before ascending
sharply into the hills.

It was to be, by Triola's standards, a short, four-mile jaunt. He runs
regularly and has completed two marathons, including a respectable
4-hour, 23-minute finish last spring at the Napa Valley Marathon.

But he decided to cut it short that morning because he hadn't been
training as much and he donated blood the day before.

At the bridge where Canyon Trail splits with Spring Creek Trail,
Triola turned around.

That decision probably saved his life.

"You don't think one choice will make a difference," he said. "I
decided to stay on the main trail and come back."

When he collapsed in the parking lot, the retired nurse and an
unidentified man began CPR immediately.

Paramedics were on scene within four minutes.

"He got medical attention early. That's why he survived," said Dr.
Peter Chang-Sing, chairman of Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital's
cardiovascular surgery and medicine department.

Most people don't survive. Sudden cardiac death is the nation's
leading killer, claiming 325,000 lives annually. Only one in six
victims survive the initial attack without lasting brain damage,
Chang-Sing said.

Nash had no such luck.

His ride took him farther and farther into Annadel's remote reaches.

With its close proximity to Santa Rosa, Annadel can seem like a
relatively benign playground. The reality is that with 27 miles of
trails spread across 5,000 acres, it can be as rugged as any rural
outpost.

Two park rangers typically patrol that vast area, although the park
currently has a vacancy. Volunteers on horseback and bikes also help
out.

"It would be virtually impossible to be on every trail and be ready
for every incident. We do our best with what we've got," said
Supervising Park Ranger Angy Nowicki.

Nash was particularly out of range. He collapsed on Marsh Trail, which
at 1,320 feet represents Annadel's highest point.

As usual, he'd gotten up around 6:30 a.m. at the Rincon Valley home he
shares with Ellen, his wife of 26 years, and 21-year-old Jordan, the
couple's son.

The couple, who met while both were at Santa Rosa High School in the
1970s, discussed Nash's retirement plans and about upping his life
insurance policy. Then he drove off with his $1,500 Specialized
mountain bike in the back of his work truck.

"We were starting to think about retirement because a lot of our
friends were retiring at 50," said Ellen Nash, an administrative
assistant for the California Highway Patrol. "But Randy loved to
work."

Funny and outgoing, Nash had worked for Mead Clark Lumber Co. since
the early 1990s. He'd been active all his life, but after learning
three years ago that he had high cholesterol, he was trying to trim
some weight off his 190-pound frame.

Looking back, Ellen Nash said she'd recently noticed her husband would
get winded simply bringing wood in for the stove.

A grueling climb

At Annadel, Nash joined up with four members of his regular riding
group: Blake Ridgway, his wife, Jean, Rich Drady and Leighton Schnur.

Ridgway, who'd known Nash for almost 30 years, worked with him at Mead
Clark, as did Schnur. Drady is a Santa Rosa contractor.

Ridgway said the group started out at about 10 a.m. with a warm-up lap
around Howarth Park and Spring Lake before entering Annadel on Canyon
Trail and heading for the summit, a route that would take them about
eight miles and include an elevation gain of about 1,000 feet.

"It's about as tough as it gets up there," Ridgway said.

Emerging from the redwoods on Ridge Trail, the group stopped to admire
the view. Sunlight streamed through clouds high above the city.

"My God," Nash said. "This is so unbelievable."

Near Ledson Marsh, the group paused again around noon to rest and
refuel with energy bars. Nash told an off-color joke that got everyone
laughing. Then it was back on the trail.

The group had ridden about 100 feet on Marsh Trail when Jean Ridgway
and Schnur saw Nash slump over on his bike and crash.

Up ahead, Blake Ridgway and Drady heard Jean Ridgway whistling loudly
and rode back to discover Nash on the ground. He wasn't breathing.

Blake Ridgway, who has undergone CPR training, tried to breathe air
into his friend's lungs while Drady pushed on his chest.

It already was too late.

Sudden death

"Five minutes into it - I don't remember saying this - but I turned to
everyone and said, This is not good. We're losing him,'" Blake
Ridgway recalled. "He wasn't breathing on his own and he had no
pulse."

About 20 minutes later, in response to a cell-phone call to 911, the
Sonoma County sheriff's helicopter landed at Ledson Marsh. But the
only thing deputies could do was pronounce Nash dead.

"You start out the morning with five people, and you have to ride back
with four. That was tough," said Drady, who had the tough task of
driving Nash's truck home.

Ellen Nash came outside when the group pulled up. So, too, did the
neighbors when they heard her scream.

"It was absolutely gut-wrenching," Blake Ridgway said. "It was almost
a second death watching Ellen and Jordan go through that."

Both Nash and Triola were at risk for sudden cardiac death, but for
different reasons.

Sudden cardiac death is the result of an abrupt and rapid loss of
heart function in a person who may or may not have diagnosed heart
disease.

The term "heart attack," on the other hand, refers to the death of
heart muscle tissue due to a loss of blood supply. It, too, can cause
sudden death.

Nash's death certificate states that he died from sudden cardiac death
resulting from coronary artery disease, which is the fatty buildup in
the arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle.

A contributing factor, according to the document, was "physical
exertion of bicycling."

Warning signs

There may have been little anyone could do to help Nash after he
collapsed. Most victims of sudden cardiac death require help in four
to six minutes. But there were warning signs that could have alerted
him to trouble.

Besides taking Lipitor to control his cholesterol, he'd complained to
his wife about chest pains. On bike rides a week before his death,
Nash remarked to his buddies that the effort seemed to be getting
harder.

He also had a family history of heart disease - his father had had two
open-heart surgeries.

In hindsight, Ellen Nash said, her husband should not have been riding
such a challenging route the day he died.

"It was too strenuous," she said. "But did he know that? He was having
the time of his life."

Triola had no warning anything was wrong with him, however.

Tests afterward revealed one of the arteries leading to his heart is
out of place. Unknown to the track coach, it had been that way since
birth and was restricting blood flow to his heart.

That produced an arrhythmia - an abnormal heart rhythm - that
ultimately led to his heart stopping.

Chang-Sing said the men might have benefited from a nuclear stress
test, in which a small amount of radioactive material is injected into
a person and traced to reveal any problems with the heart.

He recommends such tests for men over 50 and for post-menopausal
women, as well as for anyone who has risk factors for heart disease,
including those with hypertension or diabetes.

"Exercise can be a trigger and put a strain on the heart in the wrong
patient who does not have a clear understanding of what their
underlying heart condition might be," he said.

A new life

Drady said he's already scheduled an appointment for his first-ever
stress test. The lesson he learned from Nash's death: "Don't just blow
off those little things. When you feel something that's not right, get
it checked out."

Triola is convinced that running actually improved his odds.
Amazingly, his heart muscle suffered no lasting damage from the
momentary pause.

Doctors implanted a defibrillator in Triola's chest that automatically
will deliver a shock should his heart's rhythm ever go haywire again.
He's also considering open-heart surgery to fix the errant artery.

It's likely he'll never be able to run like he once did. On the other
hand, he should be around for the birth of his second child six months
from now.

"I'm looking forward to that and spending more time with my son and
wife," he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Derek J. Moore at 521-5336 or
.
--
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



--
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

* Mike Vandeman :
On the other hand, maybe he shouldn't have been practicing an extreme
sport such as mountain biking, which is perfectly designed to create
heart attacks. DUH!

Designed to have heart attacks? heh, damn mikey once again you surprise
me with your stupidity.

And I'm really concerned about the university that you got your alleged
phd from. Obviously you really got it from the back of a comic book as
no real school would give you one.

Jason

"Mike Vandeman" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 27 Jan 2008 06:00:46 GMT, "steb" wrote:

two issues here. We don't know what they ate, and we don't know the
pollution levels where they ran and worked athough knowing Santa Rosa,it
was
probably good. Maybe his doctor should have beeen more keenly aware of
some
problems mentioned.

On the other hand, maybe he shouldn't have been practicing an extreme
sport such as mountain biking, which is perfectly designed to create
heart attacks. DUH!



Or, you're just an idiot.

The guy had trouble bringing in firewood from the yard, this would suggest
that climbing stairs is an activity he should not be doing. He had coronary
heart disease, odds favor his death resulted from a chunk of crap breaking
loose from the inside of an artery, and this happend -- just by chance --
during a bike ride.

If mountain biking was "perfectly designed to create heart attacks," then
how come more mountain bike riders do not drop dead every weekend? Indeed,
kids all over the country would be dropping like flies as they pedal a
mountain bike to school. Wait, your point is that the people that die while
riding a bike -- any kind of bike, because there is no difference in what
type of bike one rides from the perspective of a failing heart -- were
having significant health issues before they threw their leg over the
cross-bar. No, that's not your point at all.

Coronary disease was the cause of his death.

Sure glad you're NOT a doctor.

"Mike Vandeman" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 27 Jan 2008 06:00:46 GMT, "steb" wrote:


On the other hand, maybe he shouldn't have been practicing an extreme
sport such as mountain biking, which is perfectly designed to create
heart attacks. DUH!

On Thu, 31 Jan 2008 10:05:27 GMT, "Roberto Baggio"
wrote:

Coronary disease was the cause of his death.

An it was just a COINCIDENCE that he dies while mountain biking? Sure.
Idiot.

Sure glad you're NOT a doctor.

"Mike Vandeman" wrote in message
.. .
On Sun, 27 Jan 2008 06:00:46 GMT, "steb" wrote:


On the other hand, maybe he shouldn't have been practicing an extreme
sport such as mountain biking, which is perfectly designed to create
heart attacks. DUH!

--
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

"Mike Vandeman" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 31 Jan 2008 10:05:27 GMT, "Roberto Baggio"
wrote:

Coronary disease was the cause of his death.

An it was just a COINCIDENCE that he dies while mountain biking? Sure.
Idiot.


It turns out that you are the idiot. The guy (reported by his wife and
doctor) had trouble getting firewood from the porch and bringing it into the
house. He was a very sick man long before he climbed atop his bicycle.

For a PhD, you sure are stupid.