CANADIAN PHYSIQUE ALLIANCE JAN/FEB 2020 ISSUE | Page 54

PAGE 49 Unbeknownst to me, I had a genetic predisposition as my grandfathers had aortic wall and heart issues themselves. Combine that with the sport of bodybuilding and unfortunately this is what can happen. I always took a very health conscious approach to the sport however this was something that snuck up on me, no warning signs at all. In fact, for personal reasons, I actually asked my surgeons if I had brought this on myself by doing what I had with the sport (anabolic usage, getting as strong and large as I was for my frame, etc.) and to my surprise the answer came back to my genetic predisposition and that if I got hit hard enough in hockey, years prior, the same could have resulted. With I am not completely ignorant to the fact we take risks in this sport and it was probably a contributing factor coupled with all the above.It’s a miracle I am here today sharing this story with you. When the event took place, I went approximately 20 minutes without oxygen before paramedics arrived and intubated my on the gym floor. They had to hit me with an external defibrillator 4 times before the paddles got my heart beating again. My loved ones were taken into a room and told that there was a 90% chance I would not come out of my coma and of the 10% chance I did, I would be severely brain damaged. NEWS GEARS Over the ensuing 10 weeks, roughly, I would be confined to a hospital bed. I would go from 250 lbs. down to 196 lbs. Squatting more than double my body weight on a bar, to not being able to do a body weight squat without holding onto a railing with my legs shaking. You want to know the worst part of it all despite the physical limitations above? Being told I couldn’t do what I had come to love so much. Being told my dreams of becoming an IFBB Pro were no more, and worst of all -being told that I would not be able to push myself in the gym. The real reason I had fallen in love with bodybuilding. I wouldn’t have it.Nobody was going to tell me it can’t be done.  Nobody was going to tell me how I would live my life moving forward. I was already being told I was a miracle and that I somehow, someway fought my way back to life when the odds were stacked against me. Who’s to say I couldn’t prove to them and myself that I can, and I will…again. Now I am not talking about competing.  I was able to accept the fact that with my new limitations, what it requires to be at the top level of the sport, I couldn’t do. However, the training. the nutrition, that I would do, and not a single person would tell me otherwise.All in all, I believe it comes down to mentality. Things are going to take place, challenges are going to arise. You can approach them either as a victim, or you can approach them as a victor. A victim sees a challenge as “something that has happened TO them”, a victor – they see this same situation as “these things didn’t happen to me, they just happened” and they find solutions to rise above any imposed limitations. I made the conscious decision that this could be a positive experience if I treated it as so.So, when someone asks me how I remained so positive in such an extreme situation, my answer…I gave myself no choice. I was not going to be a victim and let my situation define me. Fact of the matter is, if I had to go through the experience again to get to where I am today, I would.