How My Brush With Death Makes Me Appreciate Health

As you know, last weekend was Canadian Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving as it is a time where we focus on all the things in our life we are thankful for. Our past experiences, our families, our health, our good fortune, nature, good friends.  The list goes on and on.

Since the “Why” of this blog is to help you with your personal health journey I thought I would focus this week on one of the main reasons I am so thankful for good health. I think that this is the main reason I continue to focus on improving my health on an ongoing basis.

1.On Deaths Doorstep 

I am going to share a story that you may know that I very rarely share. I am not sure why I don’t talk about it other than perhaps it is a tough one for me to come to terms with. In 1999, I came very close to dying.  In fact Barb was told by the Doctors that I had less than a 10% chance of living. Think of those odds.

My Marathon Experience

I was running Burlington’s first marathon – The Millenium Marathon on May 31st 1999 (amazing how I still remember the date). I was running with our Rotary Club to raise money for the local hospital fundraising campaign. This was my 5th marathon so I had done all the necessary training, long runs etc leading up to the race. The difference was that on race day, it was one of the hottest days of the year and the temperature topped 35 degrees Celsius. I finished the race but I was not feeling well so I finally requested an ambulance after paying numerous visits to the medical tent. When people ask me today how I was feeling, I all I can say is that I felt like I was going to die.

Rushed to the Hospital by Ambulance

The last thing I remember was climbing into an ambulance with Tim who was 8 years old at the time. Barb was on her way to pick me up from a recital with Matt and Lauren when I was going the other way on Lakeshore to the hospital in an ambulance.

I had a condition known as Hyponitremia which is caused by over hydration. They figure that it was so hot (and I remember never ever feeling as hot and thirsty as that day) that I over consumed water and Gatorade to the point that I technically “flooded” my system so that my sodium levels were very dangerously low.

When I arrived at Joseph Brant Hospital (Burlington) they didn’t know what was wrong with me and it took 11 Doctors and nurses to contain me as I was unconscious and convulsing.  After having a MRI and CT scan they determined what was going on and how serious my condition was.

Coma

I was in a Coma for the next 6 days on a full respirator and ventilator which was keeping me alive and they suggested to Barb to get our affairs in order as I had a less than 10% chance of survival. The issue was that I was not coming out of my Coma and the longer you are in a Coma, the slimmer the chances of coming out of it.

Fortunately 6 days later I awoke (thanks to a good friend waking me up – Dave Webb) from my Coma and I am here today to tell the story 17 years later.  I was released from the hospital the next day however it was a very long road to recovery. They weren’t sure if all my brain functions would come back (some of my good freinds say it has never come back!). From my near death experience my body went through, I did not even have the strength to walk down the driveway when I arrived home. It was a slow and very long road to recovery and I did not go back to work until 3 months later –  after Labour Day.

It was tough as I had just started my business the year before and I was the only generator of revenue. I always wonder what would have happened to my family and my business had I not survived? How would it have changed the lives of Barb and the children?

Why Health Is So Important

My point is that one of the reasons I believe I am so focused on health is that I came so close to death that it makes me appreciate what I have each and every day.  A day doesn’t go buy where I don’t think about how fortunate I am to have good health and thank god for me being alive.

Good Health allows us to enjoy our families, our friends, nature,outdoors, our jobs/occupations and so much more. It allows us to “live” in old age instead of just “existing”. I think often we take our health for granted until we have a health issue.

Please Please, don’t take your health for granted. It is a gift and we all need to look after it.

Treat Your Body as Your Temple

My wish is that you treat your body as your temple and do everything in your power to protect your health. Unfortunately, there are always illnesses and diseases that we can’t protect ourselves from however many chronic conditions are directly related to diet(what we put in our mouths), exercise and healthy lifestyles.

As I have outlined in previous blogs, am I perfect with my health? Not a chance however I try to make decisions daily that help move my health in the right direction. I live by the 80% rule – see The 80% Rule Towards Balanced Health–http://kevinbradyhealth.ca/the-80-rule-towards-balanced-health/ which means 80% of the time I try to live as healthy as I can.

Have a great, healthy and LL(Love Life) day.