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| Media contacts: Sherry Baker, 404/377-1398, emoryheartnews@aol.com Janet Christenbury, 404/727-8599, jmchris@emory.edu |
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ATLANTA - Newt Fuller, 73, already considers himself a winner in the upcoming July 4th Peachtree Road Race. After suffering a heart attack in l985, he's been a participant in the Emory HeartWise Risk Reduction Program, which offers a medically supervised exercise program for people who have suffered a heart event or are at risk for heart problem. Last year, Mr. Fuller began experiencing chest pains while working out and his cardiologist, Laurence Sperling, MD, Director of the HeartWise Program, ordered tests that revealed five blocked arteries. Emory cardiothoracic surgeon Ellis Jones, MD, performed Mr. Fuller's bypass surgery last spring at Emory University Hospital (EUH) -- and within weeks, Mr. Fuller was back at his exercise program. "I'm feeling good and my goal is to make it to the finish line," says Mr. Fuller, who lives in the Northlake area of Atlanta. "This will be my fourth Peachtree. It's a great incentive to get in good health and there's a special feeling we heart patients have about being able to participate in this fitness event." He notes he'll be "competing" once again with his cardiologist, Dr. Sperling, who has run in the Peachtree each year for over a decade. In fact, approximately 950 of the runners in this year's Peachtree Road Race will be people who work in all components of Emory HealthCare -- including Emory University Hospital, Emory Crawford Long Hospital, The Emory Clinic, Emory Children's Center, Wesley Woods Hospital, Emory-Adventist Hospital and EHCA, LLC. Many others will be Emory Heart Center patients like Mr. Fuller who, after a heart event and adopting a heart healthy lifestyle, are able to participate in the famed race. "The Peachtree is a wonderful Atlanta event that celebrates the importance of fitness. It also gives those of us who work for Emory an opportunity to set an example for our patients -- to show that we practice what we preach when it comes to exercise," says Dr. Sperling, an avid runner who ran his first marathon last April. Kathy Lee Bishop Lindsay, Manager of the Emory HeartWise Risk Reduction Program will be running the Peachtree for the second time. "I am so proud of the fact that there are patients from the HeartWise program doing the race. The fact that they are all survivors and that I know how far they have come in our program to be able to participate makes me deeply emotional. I'm honored to be participating in the race with them," she says. For more than a decade, Emory HealthCare has been a sponsor of the Peachtree Road Race. Emory physicians, nurses and other staff volunteers will help provide free emergency health services to race participants. |