Cardiac Athlete™ Spotlight: Olympic Athlete Paul Wylie

Who would ever believe that an Olympic athlete harbored a hidden heart defect for decades? What happened to Olympic Silver Medalist Paul Wylie? How did he survive sudden cardiac arrest? Tune in today to "Heart to Heart with Anna" to hear Paul's story and the amazing secret his heart carried for decades before, not only being discovered, but nearly costing him his life! Listen as Paul shares what he believes has kept him healthy for all these years and how he feel about athletics now that he's suffered the implantation of a life-saving device and having to undergo life-saving open-heart surgery.You'll also discover what it means to Paul to be a Cardiac Athlete™ and how he might contribute to the sequel to the book Cardiact Athletes: Real Superheroes Beating Heart Disease (https://smile.amazon.com/Cardiac-Athletes-Superheroes-Beating-Disease/dp/0993038905/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1513015853&sr=8-2&keywords=cardiac+athlete+lars+andrews).

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Transcript

spk_2:   0:04
to heart to heart with Anna. This is Anna Dworsky, and I hope you've been enjoying our spotlight on cardiac athletes today. We have an extra special treat for you. For the very first time we have an Olympic silver medalist on our program. I remember watching the Olympics every year with my family and figure skating in gymnastics for my favorite sports to watch. When I found out that one of my favorite skaters had a cardiac condition, I was stunned. So today's program features 1992 silver medalist and fellow Texan Paul Wylie. Welcome to How do you like that? I know you're from Texas

spk_0:   0:40
born in Dallas, and I mean, I have the distinction of being the first native Texan to win a Winter Olympic medal.

spk_2:   0:48
So it's not easy

spk_0:   0:50
to be the first Texan to do anything

spk_2:   0:52
right, that's for sure. Yeah, my gosh, that's such an awesome statistic.

spk_0:   0:59
Yeah, the head of the USOC's PR department was this guy named Bob Condron, and he's from Texas. And so we would always kind of walk back and forth and I'd be like, Hey, Tex, what's going on? So he was like, You know, I've researched this, and it is the truth. You are the first native Texan to win a winter Olympic metal. So there you have it.

spk_2:   1:19
Oh, my gosh. And here you are, on my program. I feel so honored. Oh, thanks. Well appalled seeing you skate on the ice, which is so physically demanding, one would never expect you to have a cardiac condition. Can you tell us about what happened to you?

spk_0:   1:36
Sure. I was working out about three years ago, and I was doing some running with buddies and we were doing sprints. And in the middle of the workout, I doubled over and fell forward, and at that point, I was having sudden cardiac arrest. Luckily, a couple of my running buddies did CPR on the for the six minutes that it took for them to also communicate to get 911 and to get people to come. And they came very fast and tried to defibrillate me. That didn't quite work. So then they revived me with an injection of I think it's up in f riend into my shin. And so then I was put immediately into the ambulance and taken to the hospital, and they started to cool me and the process is called therapeutic hypothermia. And so that basically kind of enables you to stabilize so that systems don't shut down, I guess. And then they did all the diagnostics. They did heart catheterization, and it didn't seem like there were any blockages at all. I am quite a healthy heart, but sudden cardiac arrest is one of those sort of silent killers. Essentially, where your heart beat so fast it camp pumped the blood to your brain or to your muscles. And so at that point, yeah, you have very little time unless you're getting care. At any rate, I survived and I woke up from that event two days later, my wife had been sitting there in the hospital with my sneakers on her lap.

spk_2:   3:14
Oh, my gosh. Wow. So you woke up two days later, so they put you in a coma to try and stabilize year to get your heart beat back where it needed to be and for the medications to go through your body. Is that what happened?

spk_0:   3:29
Yes, And so I

spk_2:   3:30
think that they

spk_0:   3:31
discovered from people who had, like, fallen through ice and things like that that they did a lot better when they have this cooling going on in their body because it kind of slowed all the systems down, let them get back to normal. I don't know the science behind it, But what I do know is that the doctors told Kate that how I came to would really kind of indicate how much damage had been done in my brain. And I don't know. She said that she had a lot of faith that things were gonna be fine, but I can't imagine. I mean, I think that kind of tears me up inside thinking about her sitting there for two days, and my brother in law was flying through Charlotte, got off the plane, came to the hospital and watched overnight to give Kay arrest. I had all these tubes and machines, and you're essentially on life support at that point. So I was in the intensive care, right? So when I came to my first question to her was health insurance. So I had been intubated and they had a very raspy voice. But I'm just watching all of these people scurry around, I guess, and I'm thinking to myself boy. Howdy. I hope we've paid our health insurance premium. And then I couldn't figure out why it waas that I had been put into an ambulance. So it was like, E. I said, Well, how did I get here? What happened? Well, they brought you over in an ambulance about why any ambulance that was expensive. I just passed out because, Well, there's a little bit more than so So anyway, then they did all the tests and decided that it would be prudent to give me an I C D. So I have a Medtronic device that is both a defibrillator and a pacemaker. So if I ever got into the situation where my heart was in cardiac arrest than it would shock me, All right, so that was a bit of an insurance policy. And so nine days later, I went home and started to recover from that, and within probably three or four months, I was back skating. I did a performance. I did a performance on television about five months later. And then I did a performance with Katya Gordeeva Toe commemorate her husband's passing out. Remember Sergei Grinkov? But you know,

spk_2:   5:54
he has

spk_0:   5:55
a way of a heart attack in our rehearsals that stars on ice. And so we were celebrating the 25th anniversary of that. So, you know, I really got myself back into shape. And so I decided to try to run in the Medtronic Twin Cities 10 miler. And so I was a part of their global heroes, which was an incredible honor. So they had people from all over the world who had Medtronic devices come in. Well, not just Medtronic devices, but devices to keep them alive. Wow. And so we ran. Some people ran in the marathon. And I mean, you would just not believe these people. So many more inspiring stories that I've ever heard from all over the world. And so it was really great. And I got in shape for that, and I did the 10 miler. But as I was preparing for that, I noticed that I was getting tightening in my chest. And so I was thinking to myself, OK, this isn't that great,

spk_2:   6:50
right, Brian? So

spk_0:   6:52
I went to my GP and he listened and he said, I think you should get on e k. G. And so we did that with a little ultrasound and he said, You know what? You have aortic stenosis and it's progressing. I mean, I knew that I had York stenosis from the time before, but it had progressed. And so basically over about three months, I got to the point where I asked a lot of different cardiologists and that great places. They said, We think that you need a valve replacement. And so it was like, Okay, cardiac surgery number two,

spk_2:   7:27
right? Right.

spk_0:   7:29
And I went through a lot of research and soul searching to figure out you know, what was the appropriate step to take. And I sent my stuff off to several different places and they said, We think you should do another stress backo and get the ultrasound done while you're exercising. And so I was on this bike and then they were doing it. And then once those results came back, they said, But you need to do this within the next six months. And so I said, Okay, so I planned for the surgery, and then it was the question of like, what kind of surgery do you get? Because they have the tavern, which is the Trans catheter kind, right? But they looked at three different factors for me that we're not gonna work. I'm small. I'm five, for that means that my heart is relatively smaller and the little things that they have to move around like a 37 inch chest. So it's not like it's a giant poplar. And I Yeah, I plan to be active, right, young. And so I guess the thing is that over time, obviously the valves wear out. No matter what kind of a valve you have, you know, there's a lot of different kinds. You could get the synthetic ones, but those make noise and require you to take blood thinners, and then you can get a pig valve or a cow valve, and I kind of went all the way through the research. The tavern valves were not gonna work for me because they were going to be too small for what I needed right now, because once they were out, they put the next valve in, and then the next ballot in, like, Russian nesting dolls, you know? And so they said, You know, if we don't start with a large one, then it's gonna be big enough for you. So at any rate, I decided to go with the pig valve. And so it's a Medtronic unit, A swell. And so I had that open heart surgery done in April. And so I am still pretty much in the process of the recovery from that I'm running again. I haven't done a lot of skating, but my sternum is finally healed enough so that I'm doing push ups and things that are more normal for me to work out.

spk_2:   9:36
All right. Anyway, I feel

spk_0:   9:39
like this. This is my second lap around.

spk_2:   9:42
Yeah, but a lot harder this one has

spk_0:   9:45
been. Yeah, actually, I don't know why, but I mean, I think because they break you open, you know? And so it's that the open heart surgery part of it to come back from it's been difficult,

spk_2:   9:56
right? Well, they don't have to crack your chest to put the eye CD. And because your heart has normal anatomy. My son was born with a congenital heart defect, but his heart structure isn't normal like yours is. So everything is more complicated for right, but yeah, when they have to spread that sternum to get to your heart. They're moving the ribs. That affects your back. It's amazing how many different muscles and parts of your body can hurt that probably. Well, I don't know. You're a strenuous an athlete. So you probably hurt yourself a lot the past. Well, I just You know

spk_0:   10:31
what I expected. And this is just classic me, right? I was thinking that it would be like when you get a new engine for your car on, then you're like, Wow, this is awesome. I'm running a five and 1/2 minute mile now. I was never running 1007 and 1/2. But this is great. No, I didn't

spk_2:   10:50
run away. No, no, no. But the fact is that you can run, which is pretty amazing. It is amazing. I am so excited that you're here to help me promote awareness of heart defects and especially something like this, with the valve needing to be replaced. A lot of people don't think about that. They only think about the heart attack. And they don't think about the different ages that people could be affected. But like you said, you know, a figure skater who died and he was relatively young as I remember.

spk_0:   11:20
Yeah, he was 28. I mean, that was number they were. They just had won this competition where they took on all the other gold medalists that were skating still, and I mean, they were in the middle of a run through, but, I mean, he had a complete block. It trade. And, you know, you were mentioning like I was born with a bicuspid aortic valve, which is what sort of facilitated the aortic stenosis. And so what it means, like a 1% of the population has. It's a birth defect. Most people have a try custody the aortic valve. And so mine was bicuspid. And I think that what they say is when you get about the age of 50 that that's when the aortic stenosis starts to take place because of the way that the heart has been sort of maybe stressed for years, you know? So anyway, all right, I wanted to mention that that's what they pointed to as the root cause for the aortic stenosis. They never figured out what the root cause of the sudden cardiac arrest was, and the two are unrelated, according to the folks that I've had as doctors. So it's kind of hard to believe.

spk_2:   12:26
Yeah, it is.

spk_0:   12:29
Yeah, And when I think about the kind of training that I did for figure skating, just the very intense interval training and everybody thinks figure skating, that's really easy. But before half minute program is, you're pretty much going from your for anaerobic Max for several minutes at a time with a small recovery. And then back to that Max and I remember the people from the U. S. Olympic Committee coming over. I was training in Colorado strings and I put on one of those polar heart rate monitors before. I mean, this was years ago, like in the mid eighties, and they said we had no idea that you athletes work this hard. You know,

spk_2:   13:12
that's bigger accident last night and you're like,

spk_0:   13:15
Oh, yeah, this is hard because, you know, we're skating down the ice and then we're doing a jump, and then we're just been essentially exerting all this energy anyway. I am looking forward to getting back to skating. And skiing is a huge passion of mine because, like last year, I had this amazing 60 year, it was My big goal was toe ski out west and I skied this really tough run in Jackson Hole. And so I was like, Okay, that's how it's gonna go. And then I was like, Okay, I'm doing this all before the surgery. So now I have to get myself back to that level, so I guess I have that same motivation, but I think you have to live within some limitations at some point.

spk_2:   13:56
Well, you d'oh! And I'm amazed that you were able to skate as well as you did for a CZ, long as you did with a bicuspid aortic valve, because some people at a much younger age need to have some kind of repair done. It's interesting because I'm doing this cardiac athlete spotlight. Siri's right now, and the number one birth defect that we've talked about is bicuspid aortic valve. I actually talked to a geneticist who said he thinks that about 3% of the population is born with a bicuspid aortic valve, because a lot of people are not diagnosis until they're in their fifties. Just like you just said,

spk_0:   14:31
right, Well, it's interesting, too, because I went in and had a physical and the guy listen to my art next, and I hear a murmur, and he diagnosed it as a marshal valve prolapse. So I don't know whether that was a misdiagnosis at that time, but I know that every time I went to the dentist, I had to take prophylactic antibiotics and things like that. It wasn't like it was a big deal, because I was always going through the stress test protocol like pro forma, and it was okay, you seem like you're in fine shape and there's no blockages. And so just watch that when you go to the dentist

spk_2:   15:08
s. So how old were you when it was first diagnosed?

spk_0:   15:11
What? The bicuspid aortic fell just when I had sudden cardiac arrest. So

spk_2:   15:16
yeah. So when you were a kid, you didn't know?

spk_0:   15:19
No, I had no idea. No, but we did the testing of all over kids so that we could figure out whether they had it and and none of them do, Which is great.

spk_2:   15:29
That is great.

spk_0:   15:30
Yeah, because, I mean, I think that it does sort of mean that, you know, you gotta watch out for aortic stenosis in the future, right? Right. here is why

spk_3:   15:42
she always needed a lot of attention. She had

spk_4:   15:45
strokes, even though it's a national inclination to withdraw from the CHD community. I think being a part of it, help me be part of the solution. Heart to heart With Michael Please join us every Thursday at noon. Eastern. I'm Michael even on and I'll be your host is we talked with people from around the world who have experienced those most difficult moments

spk_5:   16:14
forever by the Baby Blue Sound collective. I think what I love so much about this CD is that some of the songs were inspired by the patient's. Many listeners will understand many of the different songs and what they've been inspired. Our new album will be available on iTunes. Amazon dot com. Spotify. I love the fact that the proceeds from this CD are actually going to help those with congenital heart defects join Music home tonight forever. Look,

spk_1:   16:52
you are listening to heart to heart with AMA. If you have a question or comment that you would like to dress down show, please send an email to Anna Dworsky at Anna at heart to heart with anna dot com. That's Anna at heart to heart with anna dot com now back to heart, to heart for them.

spk_2:   17:11
So what does being a cardiac athlete mean to you, Paul? Well, I think it

spk_0:   17:17
means that I am a resilient person and that I have been blessed with the medical treatment that enables me to get back out there, to do the things that I love and to be active and that and I'm not alone. I mean, I think when I look on the website and the Facebook pages and those kinds of things, and I think about the people that I ran the TC 10 miler within the marathon my global hero's friends I am just encouraged because there's folks out there who are training. I mean, they'll write in like, Well, I got a shock last week, but I'm back running again or whatever it is. And I just, um, so inspired by that, I mean, one of the guys, you know, struggle with such bad arrhythmia that he would be shocked in the middle of just teaching school, which was one of the things that he does. Yeah, So anyway, it was an incredibly inspiring moment when I got to meet those folks. And so I think of them a lot. You know, when I'm out working out and thinking, you know what, I am really fortunate. I don't look at this and think like, wow, only I didn't have this debilitating issue. I look at it, It's like, Wow, I am so fortunate to have survived him one of the less than 5% of people that are revived from sudden cardiac arrest out of the hospital and who make it. And most of the people have brain damage. You could argue that at some point I have brain damage.

spk_2:   18:48
I think I do. You don't sound like you do know, right? You know?

spk_0:   18:54
Yeah, That's because my buddies were acting as my heart right for six minutes. And the thing about CPR is that it seems daunting. It seems like you're going to make a mistake, and you just never know what kind of an impact that's gonna make on the person. Even if they don't come back right away. You are getting oxygen to their cells into their brain. That will help them to maintain that brain so that they can have normal functioning going on And so I encourage everyone I know to get the CPR training and also to work out with a buddy to have their phone on them if they can. We have AH group here in Charlotte called F three, which stands for fitness. Faith in fellowship. It's a peer led free workout movement here in Toronto. There's probably 60 different workouts in this city there, there in Dallas. There in Houston, they're in Nashville there, all over but in each one of those workouts. One of the requirements is that they have a phone on hand. And actually, a guy did pass away from a heart attack just recently in Houston. But they had a phone. They did whatever they could. We just had an incredibly blocked heart. But to have the precautions. And I think it's like anything else. I don't want people to be scared away from working out because these things do happen because working out is the number one thing that we can do to prevent heart disease problem.

spk_2:   20:26
Exactly. Exactly.

spk_0:   20:27
So that's that nutrition and sleep and having great relationships that are these indicators for having a good heart health. Yeah, I think that a lot of times people say, Well, if a guy like you goes down in a workout, what hope do I have? And I say, Don't look at me that way. Wait,

spk_2:   20:47
please, There are no But we're all unique and I don't think that's a fair thing to say because you had a structural problem in your heart and not everybody does. So You shouldn't be comparing yourself to one another. You can only compare yourself to yourself. And that's why I love the fact that you were extremely a top performer and you went down. And instead of saying, Well, I'll never be that again you're working your way back up again And I think that's amazing. Will you be writing for Laura's injuries book about cardiac athletes?

spk_0:   21:19
I would love to.

spk_2:   21:20
Okay, great.

spk_0:   21:21
Yeah, you just put me on the spot. But

spk_2:   21:25
well, he's looking for contributors to his second book, and Lisa, who is my director, is also contributing an essay to the book, and I love all the different inspiring athletes who have come on. The show who are contributing to Lars is book because I think it will give a broader scope of the different kinds of heart defects that can affect people and heart conditions that can affect people. It's not just a heart attack. It's not just coronary heart disease. There are over 42 different kinds of congenital heart defects that can occur, so we're raising awareness with this program. I really appreciate you coming on the show today, Paul.

spk_0:   22:02
Well, thank you so much for having me. This is great.

spk_2:   22:05
It was really fun. Please come back next week when we'll be starting a brand new season. The same for Season 11 is hard warrior siblings, and you are going to be inspired by the stories these siblings have to share. Tell that by friends

spk_3:   22:25
to Heart with Emma is a presentation of hearts, Unite the Globe and is part of the hug Podcast Network Hearts Unite The Globe is a nonprofit organization devoted to providing resources to the congenital heart defect community to uplift in power and enrich the lives of our community members. If you would like access to free resource, is pretending to the CHD community. Please visit our website at www congenital heart defects dot com for information about CHD, the hospitals that treat Children with CHD summer camps for CHD survivors and much, much more.

spk_1:   23:08
Thank you again for joining us this week way. Hope you have been inspired on, Empowered to become an advocate for the congenital heart defect community. Heart to heart With Anna With your hose down, Dworsky can be heard every Tuesday at 12 noon Eastern time.