It was the first time I had ever been admitted to a hospital. I didn’t pay much attention to my health during most of my adult life. I went from being an undersized linebacker at Clemson (6’1” and 190 pounds) to a peak of 350 pounds as an adult. Why didn’t I just lose weight? I did – multiple times – and I regained the weight. Worse, I had high blood pressure that I only sporadically was able to control as an adult – no doubt the weight complicated my efforts as did my shame at gaining weight.

But I thought I was healthy back in 2020 – I had lost weight (although I was struggling to keep it off) – and I was running several miles a day, rowing, and quite active. But my unmonitored blood pressure soared to 200/100. And then I found myself in a hospital – honestly believing I was going to die. I vowed I’d do anything – and I mean anything – to get really healthy again.

A cryptogenic stroke means that the medical community despite extensive investigation doesn’t know what caused someone’s stroke. I was very, very lucky – I had no functional damage from the stroke. While in the hospital, I began trying to understand what had happened. I had test after test after test – and was clean on all of them. I learned from reading that 50% of the people who have heart attacks have clear nuclear stress tests. I learned that despite aggressive treatment blood pressure can suddenly increase without warning or symptoms. And I continued to struggle with constantly feeling hungry – I was able to keep my weight within 20 pounds of my goal weight but it was a constant challenge.

I found Carey and Kadima after learning about CIMTs (Carotid Intima-Media Thickness) tests and deciding I needed one to understand my arterial health. I also wanted a CPET (Cardiopulmonary Exercise Test) because while my cardiovascular health was great when measured on standard nuclear testing – I learned how limited it was and wanted to understand my future heart attack and stroke risk at a much deeper level.

After these tests Carey met with me and reviewed the results. I asked her if we could do advanced blood work and even genetic testing to further understand – I was surprised when she said it was a great idea and ordered it immediately. My blood sugars at first glance seemed fine – but when we did finer-grained testing I found I had pre-diabetes and my blood sugar was spiking at times. I then told her about my struggles with my weight over the years – we did a V02 max test to determine my metabolism and used her advanced scanning equipment to find my body fat percentage. It was 16% - for a guy in his early 60’s not as bad as I had feared.

Once we had all of these baselines, Carey worked tirelessly to find solutions for my high blood pressure – working through a relapse at one point. She was aggressive in terms of medications and supplements to address the root cause of my problems – and she used a very scientific, numbers-oriented approach to help me get healthier day by day and month by month.

Today, I give Carey and the team at Kadima credit for my not only being alive – but being alive in a healthy manner. I would strongly recommend her not only for those who are struggling with their health or have a family history of health problems – but for those who wish to live as long and as well as is possible.