Fitness guru suffers heart attack in his 30s, denial leads to valuable life lesson

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A fitness fanatic who didn’t think it could happen to him is issuing a word of caution after a health scare and a stint of denial landed him in open heart surgery.

Jason Shaw is a prominent figure in the Indianapolis fitness community and the overall image of health of wellness.

“I work out probably six days a week on a regular basis. I do these stairs with November Project Wednesday mornings. I probably run these stairs about three times a week. I run, I do marathons,” Shaw said.

It is that healthy lifestyle that had him in denial that he was having a heart attack before the age of 40.

It was Memorial Day weekend. Shaw was just over a week out from his 40th birthday when he started experiencing what he describes as congestion in his chest. Throughout the day, the symptoms progressed to include arm pain and soreness in the jaw and shoulders.

“As I was Googling my symptoms, everything I read said it could be a heart attack. Again, I thought there is no way this could be it. Maybe it is just really bad acid reflux or maybe like I said, something to do with pneumonia,” Shaw said.

He ignored the heart attack diagnosis that kept popping onto his screen and continued on with his evening.

“After I ate dinner I started to turn blue,. I couldn’t talk. I started to cough up blood,” Shaw said.

His girlfriend convinced him to go to the emergency room where he was still sure it was anything but a heart attack. The hospital ran a series of tests revealing that it was an issue with his heart.

“I was woken up on Tuesday morning to them prepping me for surgery where they said I was going to have to have a heart cath,” Shaw said.

Still he thought this was overkill for what he assumed was an acid reflux episode.

“During that cath, which you are awake for, the cardiologist had told me that he had found the blockage. It was a pretty substantial blockage and that a stent would not fix it. I would need open heart surgery, a double bypass” Shaw said.

Heart health experts say even with people that are at a peak fitness level like Shaw, there are some cases where a person is still predisposed to experiencing heart attacks.

“We know there are inherited conditions which can cause premature heart disease and heart attacks at very young ages even in patients that are incredibly fit,” Dr. Julie Clary, medical director for cardiac rehab at IU Health, said.

Clary says symptoms of a heart attack can vary but age is not a factor in severity. She says symptoms can include but are not limited to chest pain or chest discomfort that won’t go away, left arm pain, and pain in your jaw.

“I think anytime you are experiencing a discomfort in your chest that is out of the ordinary for you and it is not going away you just might have that sense that something is wrong,” Clary said.

Shaw says he was the kind of guy that only went to the doctor when something was wrong never for a standard check up.

“[The doctor said] said that this is years of blockage, years of build up of plaque. This is not something that happens over a couple weeks or a couple months,” Shaw said.

Three weeks later, he is still recovering and has a lot of limitations. But this experience has taught him a valuable lesson in monitoring your health and checking in on the old ticker no matter how healthy you are.

“That is going to be my Christmas present this year, is buying everybody heart scans from the hospital,” Shaw said.

Wednesday was his first day back with his workout group, The November Project. While he can’t fully participate yet, he was able to help lead the exercise. During his recovery, the group held a special workout in his honor wearing red for heart health awareness.