Jim Murphy, 29, might not even be alive right now. But thanks to a 2007 heart transplant, he has bounced back from a dangerous health crisis and plans to compete Saturday in the Massachusetts State Strongman Championship, a contest he won three times before heart disease set in.
The Boston Globe chronicles how Murphy has triumphed over a condition that almost ended his days as an athlete.
In 2005, Murphy was preparing for a strongman competition in Las Vegas when he got winded doing a simple chore for a friend. Later that year, he began feeling dizzy and out of breath. When he went for tests, doctors told him he may have had at least one heart attack. His heart was enlarged, had a huge blood clot and was failing.
So they put him on medication and installed a pacemaker. But in 2007, Murphy's pacemaker quit, and his kidneys and lungs began to fail. Doctors put him on a list to receive a heart transplant. Days later, he got the news that he would receive the heart of a young man who had been killed in a car accident.
Murphy was back lifting weights within three months after the surgery. "It's like nothing ever happened to me," Murphy said. But he can't drink alcohol or eat salt, and he must take anti-rejection drugs for the rest of this life.
His doctors say he's now in perfect health. But it's unclear how long that will last because scientists don't have much data on how long transplanted hearts last.
Murphy plans to marry in August 2010, and he hopes to win his strongman title back. He is preparing to compete in the state strongman championship Saturday, but if he loses, defeat probably won't sting like it once did.
"It's a miracle, really," he said. "I shouldn't even be here.’"
Read the full story on boston.com it's truly inspiring!
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/articles/2009/08/04/at_29_strongman_competitor_is_fueled_by_grit_glory_and_a_new_heart/?page=1
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