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Surviving Sudden Cardiac Death - a conversation with survivor Jeff Luther
15 Plays12 days ago
For eight minutes Jeff Luther was dead. The autopsy report would describe the cause of death as Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy. Otherwise known as Sudden Cardiac Death.
In this episode of the Abeceder podcast Fit For My Age you will hear Jeff explain to host Michael Millward the condition that resulted in a very fit man died at the gym in front of his teenage son. Thankfully the gym had a defibrillator. That investmebt saved Jeff’s life.
Michael and Jeff explore the reasons why men, especially those with care responsibilities need to take their health seriously, get to the doctor and get tested.
Jeff talks frankly about how his reaction to the incident, and how his relationship with himself his family changed because of that day in the gym.
Now Jeff lives with a genetic heart condition, that he respects but does not allow it to stop him living.
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Fit For My Age is made on Zencastr, because Zencastr is the all-in-one podcasting platform, that really does make creating content so easy.
If you would like to try podcasting using Zencastr visit zencastr.com/pricing and use our offer code ABECEDER.
Travel
If you fancy visiting Charleston, USA where Jeff Luther is based remember that Ultimate Travel Club, members benefit from trade prices on flights, hotels, trains, and package hotels, and so many other travel related purchases.
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Find out more about both Michael Millward and Jeff Luther at Abeceder.co.uk.
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Overview
00:00:05
Speaker
Made on Zencastr. Hello and welcome to Fit for My Age, the health and wellbeing podcast from Abysida. I am your host, Michael Millward, the Managing Director of Abysida.
00:00:18
Speaker
Today i am talking to Jeff Luther about how literally coming back from the dead and respecting health challenges that are not going to go away. As the jingle at the start of this podcast says, Fit for My Age is made on Zencaster.
00:00:35
Speaker
Zencaster is the all-in-one podcasting platform on which you can make your podcast in one place and then distribute it to the major platforms like Spotify, Apple, Amazon and YouTube Music.
00:00:47
Speaker
Zencastr really does make making podcasts so easy.
Podcast Promotion and Show Goals
00:00:52
Speaker
If you would like to try podcasting using Zencastr, visit zencastr.com forward slash pricing and use my offer code, Abysida.
00:01:01
Speaker
All the details are in the description. Now that I have told you how wonderful Zencastr is for making podcasts, we should make one. One that will be well worth listening to, liking, downloading and subscribing to.
00:01:16
Speaker
Very importantly, on Fit For My Age, we don't tell you what to think, but we do hope to make you think. Today, my guest, who I met on matchmaker.fm, is Jeff Luther.
00:01:29
Speaker
Jeff is based in Charleston, South Carolina, in the United States. I'm sure I have said that incorrectly. I have never been. if I was to visit... I will be sure to take my dancing feet with me and will definitely be making my travel arrangements with the Ultimate Travel Club because that is where I can access trade prices on flights, hotels and holidays and all sorts of other travel
Jeff's Health Crisis and Survival Story
00:01:53
Speaker
purchases.
00:01:53
Speaker
You'll find a link and a membership discount code in the description. Now that I've paid the rent, it is time to make this episode a fit for my age. Hello, Jeff. How are you?
00:02:05
Speaker
I am very, very well. Thank you very much. And I hope that you can say the same. I'm very well. Yes, sir. Thanks for having me on your show. It's great to have you here. Did I say Charleston correctly?
00:02:16
Speaker
You did. You messed up United States then.
00:02:21
Speaker
Sorry about that. Please, could we start by you giving us a little bit of an introduction about, well, basically your life and some of the things that you've done in the fitness arena? Of course. Yeah. So i yeah I tell folks I'm a reformed ultra runner.
00:02:37
Speaker
I'm a cross fitter, I guess, because I still do that. My lifestyle kind of forces me to stay fit. I've got three boys, 19, 17 and 15, and I hit the lottery with my kids. I mean, they're amazing.
00:02:53
Speaker
They're all active. So all the things that I want to do, I have to stay in shape to do. I'm 50. I'm a really active dude. I'm a, I'm a small business owner. I like to lift up heavy things and put them down.
00:03:05
Speaker
And that's kind of my, kind of my lifestyle. I saw an old recording on YouTube, an interview with Adele, and the singer, in which she describes how one of her favorite things to do is to lift heavy things up and put them down again.
00:03:19
Speaker
And that makes three of us, I love that. So like you've lifted that weight that you've never lifted before. And, you know i can remember the first time that I deadlifted a hundred kilograms and now, yeah, we'll start at a hundred kilograms. There's a huge sort like, just brilliant feeling inside when you do that.
00:03:37
Speaker
think it's great. yeah it's so fun yeah but of course all of that came to an end one day for you didn't it yeah it did i'll make it brief but i'll tell the first part of this story only because it boosts my ego right on on june the 5th 2021 i'd sign up for an ultra i was running it it was a 50k which you know that wasn't wasn't unusual but was what was was particularly unusual about this race is it was overnight and it was through a national forest So I, it it was, it sounded so fun. I was so excited for it. And honestly, I showed up to win.
00:04:13
Speaker
I intended to win that race. Started at about seven at night. Uh, 18 people started six people finished and i came in second. I didn't win, but I came in second. I had a kid just ran me right off his, right off his feet.
00:04:28
Speaker
But I knew that i I knew I'd be back the next year. I knew where I messed up. I knew, I knew that I could win
Emotional and Lifestyle Impact Post-Diagnosis
00:04:34
Speaker
that race. So I had a whole year to train. So that was June the 5th and I took the week off. I just kind of stretched, recovered.
00:04:41
Speaker
That race took a lot out of me on June the 12th. I was at a CrossFit gym doing a workout with my son who was 16 at the time.
00:04:51
Speaker
Um, and it was a partnered workout. So for any of your listeners out there that understand CrossFit, they noted it in a partnered workout, You work really close with each other. And also, if you ever get an edge on your partner, like you can bury them.
00:05:04
Speaker
And it just it builds your adrenaline. It's just it's it's so fun. It's so fun. It's ah ah perhaps not the best choice of analogy there. Yeah. that yeah
00:05:16
Speaker
So what happened? So during this workout, I started to get ah palpitations is what I called them in my neck, a real high heart rate. Well, what happened was my heart went into atrial fibrillation where the arteries, so ah the ventricles of the heart, they just vibrate.
00:05:36
Speaker
They don't pump. So they would just quiver. And my heart went into atrial fibrillation. It quivered and quit beating, stopped working. And i I died. I died right there on the, on the CrossFit floor. I was, uh, without a pulse, without a breath for about eight minutes.
00:05:54
Speaker
Wow. In front of your 16-year-old son? In front of my 16-year-old son. Yeah. the the most To hear him tell it, the most traumatic part was so that luckily for me, they had an AED there, which is an aum automatic external defibrillator, which...
00:06:11
Speaker
you if you have a gym, go get one. They're like 1100 bucks. Um, they had one there. They, they shocked me with that AED after was about four minutes and it gives an audible tone of your heart rate. So they shocked me and it didn't work. So he got the audible tone.
00:06:30
Speaker
flatline and her you know heard me flatline. That was probably the worst part of the whole thing. yeah it's Just hearing you say those words is sort of like, really, it it brings it home as to, I wasn't there.
00:06:43
Speaker
I'm not your son. haven't been in that situation. But it really does bring it home with just how brutal an experience it must have been. Yeah. And, uh, to talk to, you know, a CrossFit community is a real tight community when you're in a gym, you know, everybody knows each other.
00:07:00
Speaker
And then ah the days after talking to the people that when that happened, he kind of lost it. So somebody grabbed him and pulled him, pulled him off to the side. And then all of the, all the gym members that were there, they closed me off to him. So everybody just kind of stood shoulder to shoulder so that he couldn't see what was happening.
00:07:20
Speaker
And I didn't know all this until after the fact. Which is similar to what happened at the Euros when the Danish footballer had yeah the same type of thing happen to him. And the Danish team players, knowing that the match was, you know, there are cameras everywhere on this match, they formed a circle around him to protect the medical workers who were saving his life. a traumatic experience for everyone, I can imagine.
00:07:45
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, that was the that was the same day Christian Erickson. It happened to him on the on the field, on the pitch. And that was the same day that it happened to me.
00:07:56
Speaker
Same diagnosis, same disease. We carry the same hardware now as a result. So that's my that my claim to fame with all this. Yeah. So, but if you're going to play second fiddle to someone, it might as well be a ah top class football player or soccer player from your perspective. That's right.
00:08:12
Speaker
Yeah, that's it. Yeah. Okay. So, but you're here now. So how did they bring you back? So that was it. They, they shocked me with the AED. It didn't take, they shocked me again. It didn't take. And then the, I guess, third time's a charm. Right. So,
00:08:28
Speaker
They shocked me. I came to, I came to as the the EMTs, the ambulance, the first responders as they were coming in and I came to and I was like, well, what happened? Or we get, why is everybody standing around? Why am I wet?
00:08:41
Speaker
Why am I? Cause they put ice all over me. The ice had melted by then. And I was like, are we going to finish this workout? Like, what's up? um So I ended up – and here's an anecdotal piece is i had the worst taste in my mouth. And I woke up and I couldn't piece my night together. i i remembered the morning fine, but I couldn't remember the night before.
00:09:06
Speaker
And I'm not – you know, I'm up early. I'm a fit guy. I don't go out partying or anything. It's just not – I have nothing against it. I just don't do it. And so I had this taste in my mouth, like a horrible brown liquor hangover, like bourbon or scotch. It was just an awful taste.
00:09:24
Speaker
And so I looked at the coach that was there. I said, oh my gosh, did I, I must've gone out and got drunk last night and I passed out. He said, no, I don't, I don't think that was it.
00:09:35
Speaker
because I just couldn't put it together. So later I figured out that was all the blood had drained out of my head. And when it came back, you can taste it. It's just the weirdest thing. So any smart male athlete, i was like, oh, I'm fine. Let me just finish the workout and I'll go on home. They said, no, why don't you
Men's Health and Communication
00:09:52
Speaker
want't you get on the ambulance and go to the hospital?
00:09:54
Speaker
So I did. I've gone to the ambulance, go to the hospital. I'm at the hospital. I'm there for a few days. they They were testing me. They thought I was using drugs and they thought that I'd use too much pre-workout. you know They just couldn't find anything wrong with me. And after about three days, they they finally, because my heart, my right ventricle was enlarged. But remember, I had just ran that ultra.
00:10:15
Speaker
a week before. So that would have been natural. And so then they they kept doing more and more images of my heart and they diagnosed me diagnosed me with ARVC. It's a rhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy.
00:10:29
Speaker
And it's a genetic heart disease that is worsened by exercise. Well, that's really great news for somebody who's like enjoys exercise to hear. Right.
00:10:40
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, and other facets of my life, I was going through a divorce at the time. So that's how I was processing all this stuff was exercise. And that just sent me into a tailspin. that's how I connect with my kids. That's how I process. That's how I, that's how I spend my time. That's what I do for fun. So they said, you know, exercise as you know, it is over. You're going have to take up golf.
00:11:03
Speaker
Yoga and golf is what they told me. They told me I could do yoga and golf.
00:11:09
Speaker
like You're out of your mind. right There's nothing wrong with yoga, although I pull polite i prefer Pilates and I've just never been able to get my head around golf. But I believe it's a great opportunity for purchasing all sorts of various fit equipment and clothing.
00:11:21
Speaker
But you've been faced with like a completely different lifestyle change, but I've seen your Instagram and you're still actively in training. I am. Yeah. I chose not to believe the diagnosis I was given.
00:11:36
Speaker
that's That's an interesting way to describe it. I chose not to believe it and you're laughing about it a little bit. And I think that really, I don't get the feeling that that's quite true. You know what the the the diagnosis is.
00:11:50
Speaker
You're choosing to the life you want to live, knowing that you do have this condition, which is nothing that you could do about It it was there that's right from the moment you were conceived. So it's it's it's there.
00:12:04
Speaker
you're choosing to live your life in the way that you know you are going to be happiest that's right yeah but you have to accommodate within that this condition that's right so so first and first and foremost i would like to say i would not encourage anyone to be reckless with their health that's that's not what i'm doing or i don't see it that way i do listen to my body And secondly, I, people don't care what happens to you.
00:12:34
Speaker
They don't, you know, people, they say that they do, but they don't, they can't, they can't feel the emotional pain. It's just not possible. So they don't care what happens to you. And I don't mean to be flippant, but people do care how you respond.
00:12:48
Speaker
And I had three really important people watching how I was going to respond. And I chose, I could live dying or I could die living. And I chose to die living.
00:12:58
Speaker
Like every father, you you are living your life for your children. You are the role model, the example that you want them to be a better person because you're their father.
00:13:09
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, that's ah that's a huge piece of it. And I also also want that time. I want that love and connection with them. And that's how I choose to get it. And it is worth pointing out that when people go to your Instagram, and which we'll put the link in the description, you have three all-American guys as sons. If you wanted to sort of say, okay, write me a word picture of what an all-American teenager looks like, you have three of them, don't you? Yeah, I do.
00:13:39
Speaker
i do good, bad or indifferent. I do
00:13:43
Speaker
What is the prognosis then going further forward? So here's what happens to my heart, like a a healthy, normal heart as you exercise is like any muscle, you know, you tear the muscle fiber and then it's built back stronger. It expands and it stays ah elastic.
00:13:59
Speaker
the The challenge with my heart or someone with the, with ah the diagnosis I have is the heart, the heart expands. And as those muscles tear, it's infiltrated with, with scar tissue and fat. So ultimately it starts to lose its elasticity.
00:14:18
Speaker
So it expands and then squeezes, expands and then squeezes. That's how a healthy heart works. Well, ultimately, allegedly mine will not squeeze as well. it won't come back.
00:14:31
Speaker
That's the bitch of this diagnosis. So when the doctors say that exercise will actually make it worse, it's because you are putting extra strain on your heart by exercising and your heart will take longer to recover than somebody without this condition.
00:14:48
Speaker
And eventually you won't be able to repair the damage that is caused by the exercise. That's what they tell me. But I've done a lot of research on this as anyone does, you know, when you get diagnosed, you, you, you want to figure everything out. I've done a lot and I've done it with, I've done it with openness.
Early Health Checks and Societal Pressures
00:15:04
Speaker
We have a tendency as humans to go find the information we're looking for and not find the information we're not looking for. So I've done it with, with openness. Yeah, you you go looking for almost like the worst case scenario rather than what ah the a balanced perspective. Right, yeah. and And neurotransmitters are bad for me. So the things that we get by exercise, you know, the endorphins, all of the all all the adrenaline, all the feel-good, the oxytocin, all those things, those are bad for my heart too. All the neurotransmitters, the ketocelamines.
00:15:39
Speaker
So I've had to like, you know, I've got a gym set up in my home now, which kind of sucks. You know, it's, I like the convenience of it, but I'm competitive. So I had to stop going to the gym because, you know, I'd pull a rower up next to the fastest guy in the gym and try to figure out if I could catch him.
00:15:58
Speaker
That's not good for me. So that's why I have a gym at home now. I just go and do my workout and try to keep all of the endorphins at a manageable level. So now I'm playing a physical game and a mental game every time I pick up a bar. I suspect that you're limiting what you do as well because you're in a home gym. Yeah, I limit how hard I push it.
00:16:21
Speaker
and sometimes i you know if i'm being honest sometimes i'll use it as an excuse well you know i don't need to go that fast because i've got this bum ticker know but it it does limit how hard i push it how fast i go for how long know you are managing the relationship between your hobby your interest your exercise and the condition that you have to live with that's right It's almost like you're respecting the condition, but not allowing it to define you. That is it.
00:16:49
Speaker
That is exactly it. And yeah, i have have respect for it, ah but I but I won't be defined by it. And I'm not going to quit.
00:17:00
Speaker
I'm not going to give up. I'm not going to give in. and And that's how I started working out again. I was like, you know, maybe instead of me fighting this thing, because initially this, this look, this took me to a really dark place. When all this happened, it took me to a really dark place. And I can honestly say that there was a time and this sounds horrible, but there was a time when I was healing from the the surgery and everything that had happened where I thought, you know, the worst thing about all this is that stupid AED.
00:17:30
Speaker
If they didn't have that AED, i wouldn't have to worry about this. I'd be dead. I was going to ask you, that yeah what is the worst part about surviving? And it's like, well, actually surviving can at times be like the worst part. Yeah. If yeah if it hadn't happened, then you if that person hadn't been there with that skill, if that gym hadn't invested in that piece of machinery, I i wouldn't be here. I wouldn't have these problems. We'd have to deal with it. Well, life is full of problems, isn't it? That's how we know we're alive.
00:17:55
Speaker
Very much so. Very much so. But you're all right. You know, you're alive. You've got a condition. You understand the condition. You've done the research. You've worked out how to work with, to work out with the condition. That's right.
00:18:10
Speaker
That all sounds fantastic. Brilliant. But I'm wondering, like, could anyone have of like predicted that this was going to happen? Is there a test that someone could take to, to identify whether you have this condition?
00:18:22
Speaker
There are, there are tests and you can get, you can get imaging done. um ironically enough, Italy is the country with the, the highest rate of diagnosis of this disease.
00:18:35
Speaker
And usually it's not diagnosed until autopsy. Yes, there, you can get imaging done. And it's funny that you mentioned that cause I had gone to the doctor, I'd gone to a cardiologist. Uh, it was about six or eight months prior to the episode.
00:18:49
Speaker
And I, and I told the heart doctor, said, man, something is, something's not right. Like there are some days if I run over 10 miles and really hot, I just, I've, I have to stop. I have to walk. It just doesn't feel right. And he did a few tests.
00:19:02
Speaker
I was there for a couple of hours and he said, man, look at you, look at how fit you are. You're fine. And that was it. was like, all right, well, I guess I'm fine. So, yeah needless to say, I did go back and visit that doctor when I got my when i got my diagnosis.
00:19:17
Speaker
um Oh, to be a fly on the wall in that conversation, eh? Yeah. You know, it did it never it didn't didn't go the way I'd planned it in my head. But it was but where you're going to go back to be sort of like you were wrong. Or or was this what? Why did you go back to see a doctor who'd got who'd got it wrong? Because because that's what kept playing in my head. Look at you. You're fit. You're you're fine. Look at you.
00:19:41
Speaker
So I went back to say, hey, man, look at me. Look at me. And look what happened. So if someone comes in that's of my caliber of fitness, get curious.
00:19:54
Speaker
That's all I'm asking. You can't fix what happened. We can't go back and and make it not happen. Just get curious. That's why I went back. And I was kind. And he was kind.
00:20:05
Speaker
Yeah, kindness is good. And like you say, whether it had been six months after visiting the cardiologist or six years after, probably would have happened at some point or another. You were very lucky to be in a gym that had the right sort of equipment so they could take some
Family Support and Recovery Insights
00:20:19
Speaker
sort of action whilst the emergency first responders were on their way.
00:20:23
Speaker
So, you know, big congratulations for them on having that, know, that foresight to do it. Unbelievably lucky. Yeah, yeah, unbelievably lucky. One of the things that like stands out for me is that you went to the doctors because you were thought there might be something wrong. Right.
00:20:45
Speaker
And you we all know, it's common knowledge that men don't go to the doctors until it's almost too late. And too many men are dying because they didn't go to the doctors. They were too embarrassed try about what they thought they might have or what they thought might be the examination or what they thought the treatment might be. And they didn't want anyone to know that they were that they were ill, that there could be something wrong.
00:21:11
Speaker
And there's that word, isn't it Say too many men, maybe be women as well, but we're too men, Too many men talk about there being something wrong rather than um might be ill.
00:21:24
Speaker
Right. And if I were less respectful, I would actually curse when I say this, but I'm very respectful of your show. It is absolutely selfish to take that approach.
00:21:38
Speaker
Now we don't look at it that way. Men look at it as, as, you know, being tough, being, being a man or whatever it is. Men have a tendency to suffer in silence. Yeah. Right. But it's so selfish. You have all these people.
00:21:52
Speaker
I can't go to the doctor. People count on me. Okay. Well, how is that going to work out when you're dead? Right. It's a very good question. Yeah. Very good question. It brings to mind that thing that you see when you're on an aircraft and the flying off on holiday or whatever.
00:22:06
Speaker
If the oxygen masks come down, put your own mask on first because you can't help someone else if you haven't got any air to breathe. Right. Right. And that's exactly what you're saying. if you are If other people are dependent upon you, then it's it's exactly what you say.
00:22:23
Speaker
to not actually monitor your health, to make sure that you are fit and capable of doing that, is a problem, right? It is a selfish thing to do.
00:22:34
Speaker
Yeah. Right. I had not thought about it in that sort of way, but you're completely right. Well, and, and you want what's best for your children. You want what's best for your partner. You want what's best for your spouse or whatever that is. Do you want them to treat themselves that way?
00:22:47
Speaker
Probably not. So if we're going to be leaders, let's be real leaders. Yeah, yeah.
Philosophical Reflections on Life and Health
00:22:55
Speaker
And of course, your family have played a key role in your recovery.
00:23:00
Speaker
They were there, you know your eldest son was there when it happened. And it must have had a and great respect for him. think that I want to talk about him as such because he's not part of this conversation, but I think everybody listening would have great um empathy and support for the experience that he's had.
00:23:21
Speaker
Yeah. I suspect that it it's something that will bind you and him and your other sons, but you were in it together.
00:23:32
Speaker
Right. But I suspect that, well, is it an easy conversation? Is it an event that, you know, it's not like going to see a ball game or a film or something. i believe ah It is one of those major events in both your lives.
00:23:46
Speaker
and But it can't be easy to talk about. No, it isn't. And I'll tell you this. so so I'll try, cut me off. If I was trying to keep this brief, initially it was so easy because I would say, hey man, are you okay with all that? And he would say, yep.
00:24:04
Speaker
And that was the end of the conversation. The closed question. That was it. Yeah. Cause all I wanted, all I wanted was for him to tell me it was okay for him to tell me, I didn't have to worry about it for him to tell me I didn't have to have a difficult conversation.
00:24:16
Speaker
And then I started to learn, well, wait a second. That's, that's not my job. My job is not to just make sure I can avoid a difficult conversation. My job is to make sure he's okay.
00:24:27
Speaker
So then I started asking open ended questions. Hey man, who held you, who held you that day? And then he would tell me and say, well, did you, did you fight with her? What happened?
00:24:39
Speaker
Cause there was a, one of my weightlifting coaches was there and she held him and he was fighting with her to get to me. and And I'm sorry, i ahll i won I'm doing my best not to break down here.
00:24:50
Speaker
I respect that. I can tell. And I respect that, Jeff. It's like, totally respect that. And so then when he started telling me the stories, then I realized something was wrong. he and And he would say, then I heard, like in the in the second conversation, he said, then I heard the ambulance. And and and that's why I can't hear an ambulance now.
00:25:15
Speaker
That's why I lose it when I hear an ambulance. And I didn't know that. And this was like six months later after it happened. So that's when I started really asking the questions. Hey, what'd you think?
00:25:27
Speaker
And then I would say, tell me what happened when they shocked me. Does it really raise your body off the ground? He said, yeah, it's the worst thing I've ever seen.
00:25:36
Speaker
And so that was the way to get him to talk about it. And to, to any of the parents out there that are listening, when, you know, when we ask our kids these questions and ah this is a whole separate vein, but you know, people ask their kids, Hey, are you having sex? And they say, no, then we move on.
00:25:56
Speaker
Find find the danger. Go into the danger with your kids. Give them that safe space. I did not give my son the safe space to talk about this for too long.
00:26:10
Speaker
I didn't do it on purpose, but I didn't give him that safe space. Hindsight is a fantastic thing, isn't it? Yeah. As long as it's not too late, right? Yeah.
00:26:23
Speaker
I think you both, from what you're saying, it sounds like both of you needed to talk about it. And i presume, I like to think that you can describe your relationship as you know a million times stronger than it was before.
00:26:37
Speaker
Oh, that's for sure. yeah And you're right. We both needed to talk about it. For me, for me the easy part the easy part was dying. you know I didn't have to see anything. I didn't to do
Conclusion and Call to Action
00:26:47
Speaker
anything. I had no no trauma as a result.
00:26:50
Speaker
Um, he saw all of it, but I had to talk to him like a victim. the victim's a poor word. i had to talk to him like, like the patient, but I also had to talk to him like his father and try to find those two things. Cause I wanted to know what happened and I wanted to know from his perspective what happened, but I also needed to know how he was processing it.
00:27:11
Speaker
And that's what I failed to do initially. But, but we, we did get that sorted. Yeah. Yeah. For me ah listening to your story, and I really do appreciate and respect you sharing it. It's it's fantastic.
00:27:24
Speaker
You know, as men, we all need to get more involved with our own healthcare. and We need to ask, we need to be curious, like you say, about our health and understand how our bodies work.
00:27:36
Speaker
And when, when something isn't quite right, we need to be curious and go to the doctors, make the phone call, have the conversation. Listen to it.
00:27:47
Speaker
Right. And, and men tend to put everything else before themselves. But if you think about that, how's that going to play out? Let's, let's take this two years down the road when you feel a little bit ill or you, or something's wrong or not right, or however you want to put it, let's play it out two years down the road. What does this look like two years down the road?
00:28:06
Speaker
Why don't we just figure it out now and take care of those people that we say we're, we're protecting by not going to the doctor and not listening to our bodies. Yeah. Yeah. The quicker something is identified, the more effective the treatment can be on so many things. Right. So many things. Yep.
00:28:24
Speaker
I wonder if someone when you were like 11 or 12 years old had identified that you'd got this condition. whether you would have got involved in exercise in the way that you did at all, but you got involved with exercise and it's part of your life. You're not letting ah condition limit the life that you enjoy and the life that you enjoy with your sons and but your huge level of respect.
00:28:50
Speaker
for the condition. And in that way, you're also respecting the the medical support that you received and the family that have supported you as well through the whole sort of thing.
00:29:01
Speaker
But yeah out of all of this, the thing that is like the big so like slap in the face lesson is this thing that if you are a parent, if you have people that you love, you care for, and you are a man with responsibilities, your first responsibility is to make sure that you are fit and healthy to fulfill the other responsibilities.
00:29:26
Speaker
Right. Yeah. It's such a, well, I've only spoken to you over the internet, but I'm really pleased that that gym had that machine. Those emergency responders came and that you're able to have this conversation with me. I've really enjoyed it. And, you know,
00:29:45
Speaker
We will put a link into your ah social media where people can see what you're doing now. And um yeah, I'm just really grateful to been able to have this conversation with you. Thank you very much.
00:29:58
Speaker
Oh man. Yeah, me too. I'm so grateful. And I have, have two quick things to add. One about going to the doctor. Um, we, I had to, we had to get our kids tested for this disease and it was, ah it was a horrible thing to go through. you know, we're getting them tested. What if they have it?
00:30:14
Speaker
What will the answer be? What will the answer be? Right. But Michael, either answer was going to be great news. Yes. Right. Knowing is great news.
00:30:24
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So that's what I'll say to to the men out there that don't want to go to the doctor or something might be wrong. Well, no matter what the answer is, it's going to be great news. One, we caught it soon enough or two, there's nothing wrong. Or there is something wrong with you and you can manage that condition yeah rather than be a victim of that condition.
00:30:43
Speaker
And then I want to tell your listeners that, you know, my story sounds like, oh, I had this thing happen to me and I capitalized on it and I'm exercising and I'm just this maniac.
00:30:54
Speaker
I wanted to be dead after this happened. I, I came close. I was going to put my running shoes on and just run until I couldn't. Um, I struggled with ego. I struggled with, with living in the past. I struggled with comparing my, my present to my past.
00:31:13
Speaker
I struggled with what I was going to do with my kids. It was a long, dark road for me and it got really dark. So ah my Instagram link will be in the show notes.
00:31:25
Speaker
Anyone that wants to reach out, I care about you. Great. Yeah. Thank you very much. I really appreciate your time and the sheer honesty of what you've been sharing with me. Thank you very much.
00:31:40
Speaker
Oh, yeah. thanks for Thanks for giving me the place to talk about it. I appreciate it. I am Michael Millward, the Managing Director of Abbasida. And in this episode of Fit for My Age, I have been having a conversation with Jeff Luther, a man who, just like James Bond, really does live twice.
00:31:58
Speaker
And actually, Jeff, at the moment, there is a vacancy. If you few weekends free, you might like to put put your name forward. They need a fit man. Drafting my resume now.
00:32:10
Speaker
Cool stuff, cool stuff. There is a link in the description to Jeff's social media pages alongside the link to abracidia.co.uk where you can find more information about both of us.
00:32:21
Speaker
At Fit For My Age, our aim is proactive positive aging. Knowing the risks early is an important part of maintaining good health. That is why we recommend the annual health test from York Test.
00:32:34
Speaker
York Tests provide an assessment of 39 different health markers, including cholesterol, diabetes, vitamin D, vitamin B12, liver function, iron deficiency, inflammation, and a full blood count.
00:32:48
Speaker
The annual health test is conducted by an experienced phlebotomist who will complete a full blood draw at your home or workplace. Hospital standard tests are carried out in a yeah UKAS accredited and CQC compliant laboratory.
00:33:05
Speaker
You can access your easy to understand results and guidance to help you make effective lifestyle changes anytime via your secure personal wellness hub. There is a link and a discount code in the description.
00:33:17
Speaker
I must remember to thank the team at matchmaker.fm for introducing me to Jeff. If you are a podcaster looking for interesting guests, or if like Jeff, you have something very interesting and important to say, matchmaker.fm is where matches of great hosts and great guests are made.
00:33:34
Speaker
There is link to matchmaker.fm and an author code in the description. If you're listening to Fit for My Age on your smartphone, you may like to know that 3.0 has the UK's fastest 5G network with unlimited data, so listening on 3.0 means you can wave goodbye to buffering.
00:33:51
Speaker
There is a link in the description that will take you to more information about business and personal telecom solutions from 3.0 and the special offers available when you quote my referral code, which all in all means that the description is well worth reading.
00:34:05
Speaker
If you have liked this episode of Fit For My Age, please give it a like and download it so that you can listen anytime, anywhere. To make sure you don't miss out on future episodes, please subscribe.
00:34:17
Speaker
Remember the aim of all the podcasts produced by Abbasida is not to tell you what to think, but we do hope to make you think. Until the next episode of Fit For My Age, thank you for listening and goodbye.