Heart Attack Survivor Turns into a Marathon Runner

Barry Levine grew up an active young man in Los Angeles, California before carving out a career in Information Technology that would eventually land him a job with Great American Insurance.  After moving to Cincinnati in 1974, Barry met and married a Cincinnati native named Nita. The couple eventually welcomed two daughters, Molly Beth and Maggie.

“During that stage of life, I was busy with a desk job and raising my family,” says Barry, “But all that changed in 1994 when I had a heart attack and quadruple bypass surgery.” Barry was 46 years old at the time, just five years older than the age when his father passed away from a heart attack. “That same year I started working for Hitachi Data Systems, my current employer.”

“I went through cardiac rehab, changed my diet and began running,” says Barry. He started running slowly, and then began building up his mileage. Only a year after Barry’s initial heart attack, he was running a 5K.

• Related: Be Smart About Heart Attack Symptoms.

Barry stayed consistent with his health and fitness routine, becoming an avid marathoner. “Things were going pretty well until 2005 when I had a relapse at the 7-mile marker of the Cincinnati Heart Mini Marathon. I finished the race, and then went immediately to the hospital to have a stent put in,” Barry says.

After Barry’s relapse, he began looking for some additional ways to help improve his health. “I was doing everything exactly by the book, yet still I was having significant issues,” says Barry.

Barry talked with his primary care physician, Andrew Loewy, MD, asking for further advice.  Dr. Loewy sent Barry to Caldwell Esselystyn, Jr., MD, author of Reversing Heart Disease, which is how Barry came to live a vegan lifestyle. “I don’t eat anything with a face or a mother,” he jokes.

• Related: Four Race-Day Tips for Runners.

To date, Barry has run more than 60 marathons (6 Boston), but has scaled back in recent years, opting for a more varied training approach. That’s when he joined the Pavilion.

“I hadn’t really lifted weights before, but fitness coach Stephanie Kathmann helps me out. I keep up with my fitness assessments too,” says Barry.

“I still run one full marathon every year - the US Air Force Marathon at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, being one of the runners who have participated in all 18 of them. In addition to that physical accomplishment, my goal is to stay as healthy as possible so I can watch my grandchildren grown up.”