Hello, my name is John and I want to share my story with everyone and anyone out there that is living with heart disease. Hopefully you will find that there is hope to continue living a “normal” life.

In March of 2020, I had been walking the woods with my wife Erin. I suddenly started to feel a pressure in my chest that I had never felt before. This went on for a few weeks to a month before I made an appointment to see if something was wrong. I want to make you aware that heart disease does run in my family. After getting a stress test done and everything looking ok, I still had the same symptoms. My PCP (God bless her!) pushed for more testing. After seeing an abnormality on both the Nuclear and Echocardiogram results I was then told I had to get an angiogram (cardiac catheterization).

I had the catheterization done on (my 45th birthday of all days) August 12, 2020 and found out from the cardiologist that I needed bypass surgery and have Coronary artery disease (CAD). Happy Birthday!!! Although this was what I thought the worst news possible, my wife, kids (Kyle and Ella), doctors and extended family and friends made it as positive as could be. I was in fact ALIVE!!!

Fast forward to August 31, 2020. Underwent a successful triple bypass and started the recovery process. To say this was the most challenging thing I have ever been through would be an understatement. Scared, depressed, but ALIVE. After a few weeks I was conversing with my family and told them I wanted to start hiking again as soon as I was able and someday hopefully complete all 48 of the 4000 footers in New Hampshire on the NH48 list.

Well it is 2024 and I have hiked multiple (26) 4k’s of the NH48, the entire twelve peaks in the Belknap Range and two other 4000 footers, Old Speck in Maine and Guyot (excluded from NH48 due to it’s prominence) in the Whites. In 2024 I started a little winter hiking and have completed 10/52 of the 52 with a view (WAV).

I hope by writing and keeping my blog up to date it will help inspire others like me who had doubts of returning to normal and enjoying their lives while living with heart disease. Please feel free to leave any comments or questions while reading through my blog. It is in reverse chronological order so start at the bottom for the first part of my journey.

Hike On!