Marathoner Tom Clayton Wins Race of His Life

Tom Clayton looks like the picture of health, even after having three heart stents at Western Baptist Hospital in late October. At 44, he has completed 17 marathons and five triathlons. He runs three or four days a week, six to 14 miles at a time.

It was another number, however, that stopped him cold in late October — a 99 percent coronary artery blockage, opened with three stents at Western Baptist Hospital.

Paducah Bank’s Tom Clayton logged many a mile to earn all these marathon and triathlon medals. He was back to work two weeks after having heart treatment at Western Baptist.

“All of my friends, who are physically fit, said I’m the last person they would think of having a heart attack,” says Tom, a Paducah Bank senior vice president. “I’ve never had any health problems, except the flu when I was in college. I was pretty healthy, I thought. I try to eat reasonably well. I try not to eat fried food or red meat. I’m an avid runner.”

Tom had overlooked a major risk factor to his health — family history. His maternal grandfather died from a heart attack at 41; his great-uncle at 36.

“I really had no warning signs,” Tom says. “There was really nothing leading up to it to believe I had any heart trouble. I woke up one morning to get up to run. Within four minutes, I felt very nauseous. I thought I had the flu.”

Tom’s wife, Signe, called his mother, Linda Clayton, a retired nurse, who asked him if he had the symptoms of a heart attack.

“I had no arm pain,” he says. “But I didn’t notice I was short of breath until my mom asked me. It did feel like something was lying on top of me. I couldn’t get a deep breath.”

After the phone call, Signe insisted her husband go to the Western Baptist Emergency department and drove him there herself after he refused to let her call an ambulance.

“She said, ‘My husband is 44 and I think he’s having a heart attack,’” Tom recalls. “My tail-end never hit a chair. They were hooking up wires to me and I said, ‘What are you doing? It’s not my heart.’ I can remember saying, ‘I’m a marathon runner. I never get sick.’”

Twenty-one minutes later, in the heart catheterization laboratory, cardiologist Kenneth Ford M.D., was opening Tom’s right coronary artery with stents.

Dr. Ford says it is unusual, but not rare, for someone in Tom’s physical condition to have a heart attack. “Professional athletes are a good example,” Dr. Ford says. “Family history is very important to consider when evaluating cardiac risk. If Tom smoked or didn’t exercise, he might have had a heart attack at a much younger age.”

Dr. Ford says Tom’s wife did the right thing by getting him to the hospital immediately. “That permitted rapid treatment, which resulted in little permanent damage,” he says

Baptist Heart Center is the first heart center of its kind west of Louisville. Ranked in the nation’s top 5 percent for chest pain treatment and coronary disease care, Western Baptist offers comprehensive heart care including online interactive tools, helpful tips and a free five-minute risk assessment.

Two weeks later, Tom was back to work and working out three days a week at Baptist Cardiac Rehab. “They said I had minimal damage and I can resume normal activity,” Tom notes. “I have aspirations of running another marathon.”

Tom says he tells everyone now not to ignore symptoms or their family history. “You really need to talk to your family about any history of heart problems,” he says. “Physically active people are not exempt from this condition.”

Take a free, five-minute survey at westernbaptist.com/heart to calculate your own risk for a heart attack. If you have questions about the symptoms of a heart attack, talk to one of our nurses at Western Baptist any time 24/7 on the Chest Pain & Stroke Hotline, 800.575.1911.

Quit Smoking in 2010
Smoking is stinky. Now’s the time to pick up your free Quit Now packets by calling the Baptist Health Line, 270.575.2918. Family practice physician Bill Conyer M.D. says doctors now have the tools that really work to help you quit smoking and find other ways to deal with the long-term urges and cravings that stress can bring.