This Isn't Some Hard-Luck Story

This isn’t some hard-luck story. I did this to myself. I smoked a pack of cigarettes a day. I ate horribly. I never exercised in my life. My cholesterol levels kept getting worse. For a decade, my doctor had been telling me that if I didn’t change my ways, I was going to stroke out. 

I started getting signs that something was wrong, including tightness in the chest. In high-stress situations, I’d get chest pains that would radiate down my left arm. 

An angiogram showed blockage in four coronary arteries — two at 80%, one at 95% and one at 100%. Three weeks later, in June 2020, I had quadruple bypass surgery with Dr. Beecher¹ at Cleveland Clinic Martin Health. 

The recovery has been fairly intense. I’d already quit smoking before the surgery. After, I started making more lifestyle changes. 

I eat fish four times a week, with quinoa or black beans. I have chicken once or twice a week. I eat a lot of fruit. Every day I have a smoothie with kale, pineapple and banana. 

I was going to the gym, but now I have my own set-up at home with a weight bench and an elliptical machine. I’ll walk over three miles a day, six days a week, at top speed. To be honest, I can’t say I like exercise, but it has become an obsession. 

I’m in the best shape of my life. I feel lucky to have this second chance. 

When he can break away from his exercise routine, Rick Shawver likes to go fishing — inland for snook, tarpon and snapper, and offshore for mahi-mahi and sailfish.