HEART Dion Hake is already riding his bike once again after his heart attack last year.
Don’t ignore heart attack warning signs CARDIAC ARREST
“Then I started to feel a dull ache in my left arm, which started
At 61, Dion Hake wanted to devote more time to his health. For
radiating upward,” remembers Dion. “Gradually I started to
nearly 20 years, the Marion man was a regional sales manager
feel pain in my chest and back, then I had shortness of breath.
and was driving about 70,000 miles a year. He retired in April
All of these symptoms began to intensify, and I started to
2019 with a renewed focus on his health and wellness.
worry because I didn’t have my cell phone with me.”
“On one of our first nice days, June 2, I decided to go for a
Dion eventually had to get off his bike and walk until the
jog that morning,” recalls Dion. “I ran about two miles and felt
symptoms got so bad, he couldn’t continue.
good. I took a brief break and decided I would hit the bike
“I had to stop,” explains Dion. “I was really having trouble
trail and go for a ride.”
breathing. I waited for someone to come by. I flagged a guy
Dion traveled a couple of miles and was making the return
down and told him I thought I was having a heart attack.
trip home when he started experiencing numbness in
He called 9-1-1. I was thankful he was there. An ambulance
his hands, which he initially attributed to the prolonged
came and the paramedics quickly determined I was having a
placement on the bike handlebars.
heart attack.”
4 | unitypoint.org
