Coreg

"I always thought of myself as 'bullet-proof because of my generally healthy lifestyle and athletic career," Ray Knight, former third baseman for the Mets and 1986 World Series Most Valuable Player (MVP), says. "When I found out that I had suffered a heart attack, I was scared, concerned, anxious, and upset. Fortunately, with the help of my strong and supportive family and doctor, I have a new sense of hope and optimism about my life and am back to doing the type of activities I used to do before my heart problems were discovered."

Knight is one of the more than one million people each year in the United States who suffer a heart attack, known medically as a myocardial infarction, which occurs when the blood supply to part of the heart muscle is severely reduced or blocked. Narrowing of the coronary vessels is linked with smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, physical inactivity, and obesity. Family history is also a major risk factor.

Knight's wife, Nancy Lopez--Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Hall of Fame member and winner of 48 LPGA titles--was actually more concerned about her risk of heart attack than her husband's.

"After witnessing both my parents suffer from heart disease and my father die from heart failure, you can imagine how incredibly frightened I was when we learned Ray had suffered a heart attack," Lopez says. "The thought of losing Ray is unbearable, so we are working together to make sure he lives a long, healthy life--hopefully one without another heart attack."

Two years ago, Knight first began experiencing the early symptoms of heart disease.

"I was playing basketball with my daughter in the backyard," Knight told the Post. "We played 20 minutes, and I started feeling tired, out of breath, and felt a tingling in my chest similar to the feeling from acid reflux, which I suffered from for years. I took an antacid and the 'heartburn' went away, so I assumed that it was acid reflux."

Knight returned to the court with his daughter later that week and again experienced similar symptoms yet, like most people, dismissed the early warning signs.

A couple of weeks later, however, Knight was at the couple's Colorado home and again noted chest pain and shortness of breath. He told his wife about the ongoing chest discomfort, and she immediately made a doctor's appointment for her husband.

"I went to the cardiologist on Friday, and he did a nuclear stress test," recalls Knight. "He was concerned about the results, so he asked me to come to the hospital on Tuesday for a heart catheterization. To his shock and mine, I had had a heart attack within the month. Fortunately, there was little damage--about the size of a dime in my heart where blood had ceased to go because of a blocked artery."

After angioplasty and placement of stents, Knight was sent home.

"I really dodged the bullet," a grateful Knight concedes. "I was very fortunate that the heart attack didn't kill me."

Unfortunately, Knight soon sank into a deep depression.

"For six months, I was totally down, inactive, and lethargic," the athlete reveals. "I was really scared to death. I didn't know what to eat. I was so uneducated about heart disease because we had no family history of heart disease. I didn't smoke, was athletic, and didn't drink alcohol. But I was under a lot of stress throughout my career as a coach, team manager, professional player, and broadcaster for ESPN. My diet didn't help, either. I was brought up in the South and ate a lot of fried foods and vegetables cooked with grease to enhance the flavor. On the road, I ate room service food late at night. I was always in a hurry, never thinking that it mattered. I guess I thought I was Superman."

After a difficult period of adjustment, Knight was eventually placed on a drug regimen, consisting of a beta blocker, ACE inhibitor, statin, and 81 mg of aspirin, which helped stabilize his high blood pressure and mood.

"I feel stronger. Once my blood pressure went down, I certainly had more energy and was able to do more," Knight acknowledges. "Over time, the effect snowballed and I got stronger and stronger. After my heart attack, my ejection fraction, an indicator of how strong your heart's left ventricle or chamber is pumping, was 50 percent, indicating damage to the wall of the heart. Since making changes in my diet, adding regular exercise, and taking a medication called Coreg, my ejection fraction has been as high as 59 percent, which is outstanding."

Certain that her husband's condition was stabilized, Nancy underwent tests to ascertain her health status, even though she had carefully monitored her diet and health for years.

"I had a nuclear stress test done and passed with flying colors. When you get older, you wonder what you're supposed to feel," adds Nancy. "I paid so much attention to Ray's heart condition that I thought I better take care of my own. Statistics show that for women over 50, heart disease is the number-one killer. Women put their health aside because they take care of their families. Women need to take care of themselves. Of course, Ray's heart attack was stressful for the entire family because we love him and don't want anything bad to happen to him."

Today, the entire Knight-Lopez family has adopted a more healthful lifestyle.

"Heart disease affects the whole family. When someone in your family you love very much has a heart attack, you want to support them and help them get through the ordeal," says Lopez. "When you face life or death, you have to take care of yourself, eat right, exercise, take your medications. Since Ray had the heart attack, the entire family is living healthier. Our kids really think about what they eat and the importance of regular exercise."

The dynamic husband-and-wife team set up his-and-her treadmills in the family's exercise room and are passionate about taking heart health seriously.

"Ray and I work as a team to protect him from another heart attack," Lopez stresses. "Health is a top priority in our lives, so we arm ourselves with important information about eating right, staying active, and taking regular trips to the doctor. Our message is that no matter what your genetic background is, if you don't take care of yourself, you are susceptible to heart problems.

To learn more about Ray Knight and Nancy Lopez and the "Back in Full Swing" campaign, please visit our Web site at satevepost.org and click on "Back in Full Swing."

RELATED ARTICLE: Know your ejection fraction.

Do you know your ejection fraction? Clinical studies show that a person's ejection fraction, or EF, is the number-one predictor of risk for sudden cardiac death (SCD), a condition which claims more than 400,000 American lives each year. But a recent survey showed that most heart attack survivors don't know if they are at risk for a dangerous heart rhythm disorder that causes SCD.

Unlike a heart attack, which is caused by clogged or blocked blood vessels, SCD is caused by ventricular fibrillation, a problem with the heart's electrical system. In ventricular fibrillation, the lower chambers of the heart called ventricles suddenly begin to beat rapidly and out of rhythm. Unless immediate emergency help in the form of an automated external defibrillator (AED) is available, death follows in minutes.

"Sudden cardiac death is devastating because it strikes like a bolt out of the blue, even in apparently healthy people who have no known heart disease," says Eric Prystowsky, M.D., past president of the Heart Rhythm Society. "We now know, however, that most victims of cardiac arrest do have underlying disease or other risk factors, although they may not be aware of it. We also have the tools to identify patients at risk for SCD and can take steps to prevent it."

The tools include knowing one's ejection fraction, which can easily be measured by echocardiography, a simple, painless ultrasound exam of the heart, or by other tests.

A normal EF is 55 percent or higher, while those with an ejection fraction of 40 percent or lower should be tested further to determine if an abnormal heart rhythm puts them at high risk for sudden cardiac death.

"Most people know their blood pressure and their cholesterol level," said Dr. Prystowsky. "If heart attack survivors knew one more number, their EF, thousands of lives could be saved. If people are tested and found to be at high risk, we can treat them to prevent SCD."

Patients at high risk of SCD may be candidates for an implantabte cardio-verter defibrillator, which automatically monitors the heart rate to detect and correct abnormal rhythms.

Do you know your EF? One or more heart attacks can cause a dramatic fall in the ejection fraction (EF) and increase the risk for sudden cardiac death. Heart attack survivors with an ejection fraction of less than 30 percent may be eligible to receive an implantable defibrillator.

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