Sam Standerwick, 25, was a fit guy who exercised almost every day and followed an extremely healthy diet. But last December, after a night out with his friends in Liverpool, he was found dead in a hotel room. The culprit: a 70 per cent blockage in his coronary artery, according to the coroner’s report.
About 325,000 men die from heart disease each year, making it the number one cause of death for men, according to the CDC. Standerwick’s family have been raising awareness and money for heart screening programs and defibrillators to be put in every school, sports club, and gym. Their goal is to have 200 people in North Wales screened by this February.
“One in 500 people between 14 and 35 have an unknown heart defect and are literally walking around like ticking time bombs,” Adrian Standerwick, Sam’s father, told Men’s Health. “It seems as if it’s a secret that just isn’t talked or written about.”
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Standerwick said his son had suffered from heart palpitations the night before. It was “something he had been saying about for a little while every now and again,” he told the Daily Mail. “My wife said to him, ‘You need to get checked over. I will book you an appointment at the doctor’s for tomorrow,’ and he said, ‘I’m out with the lads in Liverpool tomorrow, I will do it next week.’”
Two years before his death, Standerwick had also blacked out behind the wheel of his car. Although doctors performed an ECG at the time, Standerwick’s family said they didn’t know what the results were.
“At 25, you would never think that anything’s seriously wrong. When Sam walked out of that door that night it was the furthest thing from our minds. We never dreamed something like that would happen,” Adrian Standerwick said.
So how did this happen to someone so young and who was in such good shape?
According to cardiologist Justin Trivax, M.D., medical director of the Cardiovascular Performance Clinic at Beaumont Hospital in Michigan, it’s possible to take things too far when it comes to fitness.
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Take weightlifting, for example. Dr. Trivax says that straining and using a breathing technique called the Valsalva maneuver to hoist the heaviest load possible can create extreme spikes in blood pressure that, in people with an underlying weakness, can be a trigger.
He also said that taking certain performance-enhancing, energy-boosting supplements can also have some serious consequences. One reason is that they could contain banned substances, like steroids or hormones, or even prescription drugs that may be a risk to your heart health.
Many supplements – most marketed to boost weight loss, sports performance, or sexual health – have remained available months after they were officially pulled from the shelves for heart-attack risk or other safety concerns.
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Family history is another potential cause of heart disease, and Standerwick’s three siblings have all been screened for potential heart conditions.
To make sure everyone is armed with the information they need, Standerwick and his wife started an organization called Cardiac Risk in the Young to reduce the frequency of young sudden cardiac death.
There are a few other surprising reasons your heart could fail that don’t have to do with poor diet or lack of exercise. Symptoms to look out for include heart palpitations, dizziness and lightheadedness, blackouts, shortness of breath, nausea, chest pain, upper body pains, and cold sweats.
(Related: How to know if you’re having a heart attack)
It’s important to not ignore these warning signs if you have them. If any persist, see your doctor as soon as possible.
