Data point: William Safire
applauds Bush's inaugural speech. Nothing new there. But we were surprised to read this:
On his way out of the first Cabinet meeting after his re-election, President Bush gave his longtime chief speechwriter the theme for the second Inaugural Address: "I want this to be the freedom speech."
In the next month, the writer, Michael Gerson, had a heart attack.
How old is Gerson? Turns out,
39 or 40. That's pretty young. Cheney had a heart attack at an early age. How common is that?
posted by Quiddity at 1/21/2005 01:40:00 AM
Heart attacks at a young age are not uncommon. I've had a cousin suffer one at 41. He was an ex-Air Force man, non-smoker/drinker and ran and lifted weights regularly. A brother in-law at 43. My mother at 39. Co-worker at 47. Uncle, now dead, initial attack at 27. My doctor says genetics and family history play a huge part of such early attacks, with diet/weight/poor exercise and drinking and smoking coming into play later in life. I'd advise anyone with extensive cardiac events in their family history to get a thorough cardiac check-up by age 35, including a stress test and sonogram. Force your doctor and insurer to help catch problems early.
