Chris's Profile

I'm 66 years old. I've been active most all of my life; High school: football, wrestling, as an Adult: Flag football, running, biking, backpacking, golf, travel. I've been running road races (10Ks and half marathons) since the 1980s in Florida. I moved to North Carolina 30 years ago, took some years off from running races, but started up again in 2009. I averaged a couple of half marathons a year and a full marathon every other year or so. In 2017, suddenly, I started having trouble breathing and tightening my chest on my training runs. I would get dizzy after running a half mile or so. I thought it was maybe some kind of exercise-induced asthma. I asked my family doctor for an inhaler. He said I would need to take a stress test. I did that at Duke Hospital, in Raleigh, NC.... that's when I found out I had a congenital bicuspid aorta valve. I was 60 years old and was told I'd need a valve replacement in 3-5 years and that I could keep running if I wanted to. I ran a very slow marathon a few months after the diagnosis. I kept trying to train and run races for a couple of years, very slowly, because my training was reduced and uncomfortable. I gave up running the last 3 years. I've had Echo's every year since my diagnosis in 2019. It's now 6 years since my diagnosis, and the symptoms of chest pains and dizziness have increased. My condition at the moment is moderate aorta stenosis, but because minimal exertion causes the symptoms, I'm going to have the surgery this fall, at the Cleveland Clinic with Dr. Eric Roselli, I hope. My cardiologist, Dr Kalahasti, also from the Cleveland Clinic, has submitted my request; no dates yet. - Just received a date 10/27/2025