Published on October 07, 2011

Heart Surgery Patient Wins Marathon Achievement

At last year’s Quad Cities Marathon, veteran runner Terry Erickson felt his heart begin racing at mile 22.

He couldn’t catch his breath. He walked a mile, then resumed running, only to have it happen again. In his 13 years of running the local marathon, Erickson had never felt such symptoms. It was the first sign of the heart disease that would lead him to open heart surgery on Jan. 26 at Genesis Medical Center, Davenport.

What a difference his double-bypass surgery made.

Just eight months later, the 58-year-old Erickson not only finished this year’s Quad Cities Marathon but he won in his age category. He ran the Sept. 25 marathon in 3 hours, 29 minutes, 59 seconds -- 10 minutes faster than he ran it the year before.

He credits the skills and support of his Genesis heart surgeon, Robert Fietsam, M.D., who also is an avid runner and understood his patient’s need to run again.

“Dr. Fietsam gave me confidence and put me at ease before and after surgery, assuring me I would be able to run again,” says Erickson of Hampton, Ill. “That gave me the motivation I needed to begin cardiac rehab at the Genesis, Illini Campus, where they set me on a program that would enable me to resume running.”

It was after hernia surgery last November that Erickson’s symptoms grew more apparent. After a six-week recovery, he tried running again only to feel chest discomfort at the half mile. His Genesis Health Group physician, Dr. John Golden, ordered a stress test for Erickson at the Illini Campus.

The stress test signaled an abnormality and was halted before it was over. Erickson, a lifelong runner, was given a nitroglycerin pill and scheduled to have an angiogram the very same day. He had two blocked vessels. Open-heart surgery was recommended “as the most durable, longer-lasting solution for my lifestyle,” Erickson says.

“I was pretty shaken up,” he recalls. “First, I wanted to live. Second, I wanted to run. Dr. Golden referred me to Dr. Fietsam, a runner who would be sympathetic to my lifestyle goals.

“I was impressed by Dr. Fietsam’s gentle manner. He showed me the angiogram and my two blockages but told me my heart was in great shape otherwise. He said there was no reason I wouldn’t be able to run again after I had the surgery. He put me in a positive frame of mind. I had a good grip on my goals and was ready to work toward them instead of moping.”

Rehabilitation

After surgery, Erickson began cardiac rehabilitation at Illini, where he underwent supervised exercise and attended weekly educational classes on living with heart disease. He learned to monitor his heart rate and blood pressure.

With Dr. Fietsam’s supervision, Erickson followed a regimen of gradual walking and running. By the end of March, he was running 25 miles a week.

He ran the Genesis Firecracker Run on July 4 -- a milestone he celebrated with Dr. Golden who was directing the race’s medical tent and also had been monitoring his patient’s running progress. Erickson ran a half marathon in August and another half marathon in early September.

“I was surprised by my results. All through the summer, I’d run one extra mile a week until I got up to 22 miles. I knew I could go the distance of a full marathon,” Erickson says. “I thought I’d run the Quad Cities Marathon at a steady pace. But that pace lasted the entire race, and I did better than I ever anticipated.”‘

Winning this year’s Quad Cities Marathon in his age category wasn’t his only victory. Since his heart surgery, he has lost 30 pounds from eating a healthier diet and is off high blood pressure medicine for the first time in four years.

Looking back, Erickson realizes he was lulled into a false sense of security, assuming he was healthy because he was a lifelong runner. He didn’t eat a hearthealthy diet. He ate a lot of fried and processed foods and too much salt. He also didn’t consider the genetic risk factors; his father had cardiovascular disease, too.

He’s grateful the symptoms he experienced while running helped to uncover his heart problem early -- before he suffered heart damage. “Dr. Fietsam said this was a true second chance,” he says. “I plan to use it wisely.”