staff spotlight
Ken, proud
(as he should
be!) of his to-thisday phenomenal
physique
WHAT IS BARRETT’S
ESOPHAGUS?
The Mayo Clinic’s definition of
Barrett’s esophagus and
high-grade dysplasia is as follows:
we age, the main goal is to remain self-sufficient. For example, if we have bad joints,
we can build up the areas around them to
make them stronger, reducing stress on those
joints. There’s always a way. You can get
stronger, even if you’re 80.”
Like many adults, Ken too was a latecomer
to physical fitness. Newly retired in 1993 after
a 29-year career as a chemist’s assistant with
DuPont, Ken and a friend decided to tackle
the weight room at Living Well in Wilmington,
later Gold’s Gym. Ken was 51. He had high
blood pressure, suffered
from acid reflux, and
wanted to “get in shape.”
It was there that he
discovered the merits of
personal training as well.
“I’d go down there
and lift weights. Everything you could possibly
think of that was wrong,
I did it. Once, I pulled
a muscle on a machine
that a bodybuilder had
been on. I thought, ‘If he
can do it, I can too.’” Ken
admits he pulled more
than one muscle after not
adjusting the weights to match his strength.
The desire not only to continue strength
training but also to delve further into the
fitness profession stayed with Ken. By 1994,
he was hired at Pike Creek Fitness Club to
work the front desk – or so he thought. The
management there had other ideas.
“I was interviewed by three or four people
who asked me whether I’d like to become a
personal trainer. There weren’t many trainers
at the time. So I did, working with Linda Smith
and Lori Walker. The people [at Pike Creek]
were nice. I enjoyed working with them, and
helping them as well. It was true on the job
training.”
Within a year, Ken earned his first certification from the American Fitness Professionals
Association (AFPA). Today, he holds Master
Personal Trainer status at the HAC. He is still
certified with AFPA as well as in the Gravity
Training System (GTS), Functional Movement
Screening (FMS), and Weight Management.
He has earned a certificate from the American Council of Exercise (ACE). His experience and expertise draw
clients to him, to be sure,
yet many say it’s Ken’s
strong sense of optimism,
old-school courtesy,
and a never-say-never
belief in each person that
keeps them coming in for
workouts. With Ken, they
take on new challenges
in the gym, and give each
rep their best effort.
Many of his clients
followed Ken when he
moved from Pike Creek
Fitness to the new HAC
when it first opened, and
some have been training with him for more
than 20 years.
“Thanks to Ken, at 70 I am in many ways
in better shape than when I was 30,” says
22-year client Vincent Greggo. “Ken is one
of the nicest and hardest working people I
know. He is also very knowledgeable about
personal training and anatomy. Working with
Ken never is boring.”
Little did Ken know that he’d need all
the physical strength he had developed in
his years of working out and training fitness
The doctors
recommended
surgery to remove
my entire esophagus
. . . I wanted them to
attack this illness as
if I were a 30-yearold patient.
20
HACHEALTHCLUB.COM
In this condition, “the tissue in the tube
connecting your mouth and stomach
(esophagus) is replaced by tissue similar
to the intestinal lining.”
Barrett’s esophagus often is found
in patients who have suffered from
Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease, also
known as GERD. Patients with GERD experience the uncomfortable sensation
of stomach acid moving into the lower
esophagus, many times after meals.
Symptoms of Barrett’s esophagus
can include but are not limited to frequent bouts of heartburn, trouble swallowing food, and in less frequent cases,
chest pain. Risk factors include having
GERD for more than five years; being
over age 50; being overweight; and
smoking. White males are at greater risk
than the rest of the population.
Barrett’s esophagus usually is found
by a physician who performs an endoscopy on the patient. In an endoscopy,
the patient is sedated, and the doctor
examines the esophagus by putting a
lighted tube with a camera at its end
down the throat. Tissue samples can be
collected during the procedure to determine a diagnosis.
When doctors diagnosed Ken
Roberts, they noted the presence not
only of Barrett’s esophagus, but also of
high-grade dysplasia. In this condition,
significant changes occurred to the cells
in the esophagus. Mayo Clinic notes
that high-grade dysplasia is considered
to be the “final step” before a diagnosis
of esophageal cancer. In one of Ken’s
diagnoses, doctors believed they’d
already detected cancerous cells by
the time Ken chose to be treated at
Mayo Clinic.
Sources: mayoclinic.com; Ken Roberts