After Chris Prewitt finished lifting during a session with a personal trainer on Dec. 27, 2023, he felt unexpected pain. While it was his first time working with this trainer, Prewitt, then 48, exercised often, including cardio and CrossFit.
“It wasn’t a terribly hard workout,” the 49-year-old from Avon Lake, Ohio, recalls to TODAY.com. “But after, my triceps and my biceps and my chest were all incredibly sore.
” Worried, Prewitt's trainer brought over a sports medicine doctor, who advised Prewitt to go to urgent care. His wife, Meredith, packed their kids in the car and rushed to pick him up. She missed the exit for urgent care but noticed they were right by a hospital.
She glanced at her husband, who was gray and cold, and rushed him to the emergency room. This was fortunate as Prewitt was having a heart attack. “I had one single artery that was completely blocked,” he says.
“The artery is the left anterior descending artery ...
the widow maker.” Over the years, Prewitt enjoyed exercise, running hundreds of 5Ks, two marathons and participating in CrossFit. He doesn’t drink or use drugs, and eats a health diet and prioritizes sleep.
“I am often thought of as a picture of health,” he says. “I do all the things you’re supposed to do.” For the year leading up to the heart attack, Prewitt felt good for the most part, but he did noticed that he was easily fatigued.
He chalked it up to his age and parenthood. “I didn’t know if this is what (nearing.
