ParkTalk Podcast

S30 Episode 03: A Dramatic Recovery Leads to an Active Retirement

Jim, a fitness attendant at Fort Hill Fitness and a former executive in a large corporation tells of how he survived a major health crisis and is now enjoying an active retirement.

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Quotes from the episode:

“One of the bypass grafts closed, which caused a heart attack. It caused me to arrest, in my house...The EMS was able to come right away, and took me to Edward Hospital, where all of the cardiologists were getting ready to take care of their patients that day. So they sent me to the stent lab, and got things flowing again, and then they put me in a coma, as they were not sure how long I had been without oxygen. They brought me out of it on Thursday (three days later). I’m very lucky that I came out of it. Arresting at home happens about one in a thousand with these operations and you’ve got about a one-in-a-thousand chance to survive it. Right now, I’m one in a million. By the grace of God and the ability of the Naperville municipal services and the Edward cardiologists, I’m here today.” –Jim

“After going through cardiac rehab again and returning to work, I just knew that it was not for me. I retired in 2020 and had a lot of time on my hands. What led me to Fort Hill was that I would go and work out there every day. And I would see the fitness attendants there, and they started encouraging me, ‘Hey, you’re retired now. Maybe you should work here. You’re here every day anyway. Come on in and make some money at this.’ So after a while I looked into it and in August 2021 I started. This is my one-year anniversary.”-Jim