By Deanna Meade

Special to the Times

In September of 2018, 69-year-old Henry Hearn Jr. went to Workout Anytime in Smithfield. Inspired by his energetic and active father, who always worked hard for what he wanted, Hearn decided he needed a change and wanted to start trying to lose weight.

At the club, Hearn was walking on the treadmill when he began to feel a tightness in his chest and was experiencing shortness of breath. So, he decided to stop what he was doing and go home.

After speaking to his wife, who was concerned about why her husband had returned home so early, they concluded that Hearn should go to his primary care physician at Riverside and get a checkup. The hospital ran multiple tests and kept Mr. Hearn overnight for observation.

The next morning, the doctor told Hearn that he needed a catherization and he shouldn’t be doing anything excessive for the next few days. From the catherization, the doctor found that Hearn had four blocked arteries, and on Oct. 1, he received a quadruple bypass surgery.

The surgeries was successful, and soon Hearn was able to return home to his normal schedule with annual checkups by his doctor.

The doctor informed Hearn that if it weren’t for his decision to go to the gym and try to lose weight, there was a strong possibility they wouldn’t have caught the heart complication in time. Hearn’s eagerness to get up and change his life ended up saving his life.

Hearn has continued his workouts at Workout Anytime with no further heart complications. He begins his workout with a 20-30 minute walk on the treadmill and ends with two miles on the elliptical bike for upper body and leg strengthening. He does just enough exercise a day to stay active and keep his heart healthy.

Henry Hearn goes to Workout Anytime five to six days out of the week and sticks to working on his cardio. His goal is to keep active and tone his muscles, and in the past two years, he has achieved most of his goal.