Keith Hooper, a beloved high school Spanish teacher and cross-country coach from Woodstock, took a dramatic turn earlier this year when he suffered a heart attack in the middle of class.
“I didn’t feel any pain, I just felt off. My heart felt like it was spinning, and it was something I had never experienced before. I felt like I needed to vomit, and my students told me I looked pale,” explained Keith. “I wrote an email to the school nurse explaining what was happening. That’s when the nurse came to my classroom and told me I was having a heart attack.”
An ambulance quickly arrived and took him to Northside Hospital Cherokee. Things moved swiftly from there. The team put a stint in Keith’s heart before transferring him by helicopter to Northside Hospital Gwinnett.
Despite being an avid long-distance runner, the 59-year-old found himself undergoing a quadruple bypass. After several days in the ICU, and another three or four days in the cardiac unit, Keith was sent home to begin his long road to recovery.
A cardiac event puts significant stress on the entire body, from pains to abnormalities to psychological. This can lead patients to experience anxiety, fear of recurrence, depression, heightened awareness of bodily changes, increased blood pressure, irregular heartbeats and difficulty sleeping, all of which further impact recovery. These unmanaged stresses can hinder the healing process by impacting lifestyle choices and increasing a patient's risk of future cardiac events.
Keith was determined to not let this experience get the best of him and strived to go back to his active lifestyle as quickly as possible.
“I was antsy to get active again, and I knew being active could potentially prevent another heart attack in the future,” explained Keith. “I just wanted to get back to normal life.”
He decided to enroll in Northside's Cardiac Rehab Clinic, which provides strategies for patients recovering from heart disease or cardiac events to help them grow stronger and regain confidence.
Through the clinic, Keith was given a customized and medically supervised outpatient program of exercise, education, counseling and behavior modification to strengthen the heart and improve physical, mental and social health so that he could get back to his everyday life.
“I started with one day a week, then two days and now I go three days a week,” said Keith. “While in cardiac rehab, I fell in love with the bicycle and almost beat the clinic record for the six-mile bike.”
However, Keith’s experience has not been without a few setbacks.
“I struggled with breathing and still don’t like to be short of breath,” explained Keith. “I have had AFIB, struggle with stairs and carrying certain weights. I can’t do yard work, and sometimes I wear an external defibrillator which causes issues when getting dressed. I’ve certainly had my fair share of dark moments – but I always saw my experience as just a minor setback. There’s no reason to be mad.”
He also made dietary changes. The clinic provided personal guidance around diet changes and stress management during his classes, and his hospital stay. If he ever had questions, he had access to a dietitian to help clear things up.
“I limit myself to one beer a week and I limit my salt and sugar intake,” said Keith. “I read food labels and am more conscious about what I am putting in my body. I remind myself of the pain I was in right after my heart attack, and that gives me the willpower to hold back on certain foods.”
After eight months of hard work, he is back in the classroom ready to inspire his students, prepping to run a 5K, and willing to share the importance of cardiac rehab and how it can be a lifeline – not just physically, but emotionally.
“You will need to work, and you’ll only get out of it what you put into it. It’s OK if you can only do a certain amount while others are doing more -- it doesn’t matter. Do the best you can that day and know you will have good days and bad days,” said Keith. “Be prepared for the bad days and don’t get discouraged. Remain positive and be a positive person in everything that you do.”
Learn more about cardiac rehabilitation at Northside Hospital.
*The health story shared here is for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. Patients should consult with their own physician before making medical decisions.
