Three Heart Attacks Can’t Stop Bloomie
In the past year, Dean Zuck suffered three heart attacks and underwent open-heart surgery.
The 70-year-old Bellingham resident still plans to run Bloomsday this year, as he has for the past two years.
“I enjoy it, really,” Zuck said. “Several of us get together and have breakfast. I wait until after the race.”
Zuck, who started running when he was about 45, placed third in his age division in Bloomsday last year. He ran the 7.5-mile race in one hour, five minutes and 12 seconds.
Zuck could be called a glutton for exercise. He broke one leg twice and the other once while skiing. He was treated for hypothermia about 10 years ago just before the finish line of the Seattle Marathon.
Those problems were nothing compared to Zuck’s heart attacks. Zuck’s race T-shirt from last year tells part of his story.
About a half-mile from the Bloomsday finish line, Zuck heard a joker from the finish line yell that the race already had run out of T-shirts.
“I said, ‘I’ll kill for mine,’ ” Zuck said.
On June 28, Zuck was wearing the shirt when he suffered a severe heart attack after running 6 1/2 miles. He sat in his easy chair as the ball of pain grew larger in the center of his chest.
An ambulance happened to be driving by Zuck’s home when his family called for help. Medics cut the 1994 Bloomsday T-shirt off Zuck.
“My wife thought I was going to have another heart attack when I found out it was missing,” Zuck said. “They cut the thing up the middle, not in a straight line either.”
Zuck recovered quickly from that attack. A month later, a cardiologist tested Zuck on a treadmill. Zuck was supposed to walk fast, but he told the doctor it would be easier for him to run.
“I finished it,” Zuck said. “A half-hour later, I had another heart attack.”
His test results were twice as good as those for most 70-year-olds.
After snapping back from that heart attack, Zuck went to Oregon on vacation. On the drive back, he suffered a third attack. In late September, Zuck underwent a single bypass.
After the surgery, Zuck started exercising slowly, walking up and down the sidewalk. In February, he started running short distances.
Zuck’s now running about seven miles a day, three times a week. He’s looking forward to Bloomsday on May 7, but he isn’t looking to place. Finishing is just fine, he said.
“Lord willing,” Zuck added.
As for his cut-up T-shirt, Zuck’s friends called Bloomsday organizers.
“I sent him a new one,” said Karen Heaps, race coordinator.
Zuck wore that T-shirt Saturday. But he didn’t throw away the other Bloomsday shirt - he stitched it back together in a zig-zag line.
“That’s worth more to me than the brand new one,” he said. “That one won the race.”