Feb 9, 2005 By Cindy Ekas-Brown 7 min read

Sweat rolls down the faces of Dr. Veerunna C. Yadagani, interventional cardiologist at the Uniontown Hospital, and his patient, Eric Johnson, as they work out side-by-side on treadmills recently at the Uniontown Area YMCA. When they take a break from their grueling exercise regimens, the two men, who come from different backgrounds and walks of life, begin to share their story about the special bond and friendship that has brought them together for a common goal.

The goal is plain and simple.

The doctor, who is originally from India, and his patient, who grew up in Clairton, a steel town in the Pittsburgh suburbs, want to educate Fayette County residents about the risks of heart disease and obesity.

They want to tell the public about the importance of exercise and diet in maintaining an active and healthy lifestyle and avoiding potential heart disease.

Johnson, a 46-year-old Uniontown man who works as a prison guard at SCI-Fayette in Luzerne Township and serves as pastor at John Wesley AME Zion Church in Uniontown, has learned the lesson about diet and exercise the hard way.

His experience began shortly after 4 a.m. Sept. 30 last year when Johnson woke up early and got dressed. He noticed that he felt strange, but he didn’t know exactly what was wrong.

As he began to feel pressure in his chest, Johnson realized that he needed help. He jumped in his car and began driving down Cleveland Avenue on his way to the Uniontown Hospital.

“It didn’t take long for me to realize that I was in a lot of trouble,” Johnson said. “I couldn’t stand the pressure I was feeling in my chest. There was no pain, but the pressure was extremely uncomfortable.

“I think I ran every red light in Uniontown because I knew that I needed to get to the hospital as quickly as possible,” he added.

When he arrived at the hospital, Johnson said he walked into the emergency room, went up to the counter, held his chest and told the nurse that he was experiencing “some major problems.”

The nurse escorted Johnson to an examining room, where he was given nitroglycerin – just in case he was having a heart attack.

“Most people say that it feels like an elephant sitting on their chest when they are having a heart attack,” said Yadagani, as he reinforced the description that Johnson gave of his symptoms.

At first, Johnson said emergency personnel seemed very relaxed. But as soon as blood tests confirmed that he was suffering from a heart attack, Johnson said the doctors, nurses and other hospital employees moved into action quickly.

Hospital employees told Johnson that he needed to have an angioplasty performed immediately.

“When they told me that I was having a heart attack, I became very nervous,” Johnson said. “I was very scared.”

But as fear overwhelmed him, Johnson, who was lying on a hospital gurney that was being rolled down the hallway, saw a familiar face looking down at him.

It was Dr. Yadagani, a man he had come to know casually while working out at the Uniontown Area YMCA.

“As soon as I saw the doc’s face, I knew everything was going to be all right,” Johnson said. “I trusted him, and I knew he would help me because we had gotten to know each other at the YMCA.”

But when Yadagani saw Johnson lying on the hospital gurney, suffering from a heart attack, his reaction was a little different.

“I couldn’t believe it was Eric because I knew that he spent time exercising at the YMCA,” Yadagani said. “I was shocked to see him lying there, having a heart attack.”

After performing an angioplasty on Johnson, Yadagani placed a stent in his left anterior descending heart value, which was 100 percent blocked.

“I have been told that the value is known as the widow maker because most people die if it is blocked,” Johnson said.

Yadagani believes that Johnson’s exercise regimen at the YMCA actually played a key role in saving his life.

“When someone exercises, this causes collateral arteries to be formed in the heart,” Yadagani explained. “Eric’s heart didn’t die because these collateral arteries that he had developed during his exercise regimen allowed blood to flow into his heart.”

Johnson credits Yadagani with saving his life.

“I don’t know if I would have made it without the doc. He saved my life,” Johnson said. “But I also realize that I’m still here because of the grace of God.”

Johnson spent three days in the Uniontown Hospital recovering from the procedure.

After Johnson was released from the hospital, Yadagani placed him on a heart healthy low-fat diet to reduce his cholesterol and sodium levels.

He also recommended that Johnson begin a special regimen to make sure that he was getting enough cardiovascular exercise to keep his heart healthy, in addition to the weight-lifting regimen that he had been doing.

In an effort to prevent heart attacks, the doctor recommends that his patients spend at least 45 minutes a day doing cardio or aerobic exercises. These include walking or running on a treadmill or outside, using an exercise bicycle, stair climber or other equipment or participating in an aerobics class at the YMCA or other fitness facility.

Yadagani, who is passionate about the importance of diet and exercise, actually practices what he preaches.

Even though he works as many as 70 to 80 hours a week in his medical practice, Yadagani spends at least one hour a day running on a treadmill at the YMCA. He recently qualified for the Boston Marathon in the 50-54 age group. His goal is to complete the 26.2-mile grueling course, which will take place in April, in three hours, 15 minutes.

“I’ve been exercising all of my life,” he said. “I began running when I was a high school student at a missionary Christian boarding school in India. It was very unusual because most Indians don’t exercise. I actually feel more at home in the United States than I ever did in India because some Americans do exercise.”

In his practice, Yadagani said he tries to convince all of his patients to eat healthy and to exercise.

“I wish that I could get my patients to listen to me,” he said. “But sometimes, I feel like I’m talking to a brick wall when I tell them that they need to lose weight and exercise if they want to stay healthy. But that doesn’t stop me from trying to convince them to begin dieting and exercising. I never give up when it comes to making sure that my patients understand what it takes to become healthy and turn their lives around.”

The best way to lose weight is by cutting back on red meats and fats in the diet, reducing but not eliminating carbohydrates and eating more fruits and vegetables, according to Yadagani.

Johnson was one patient who took the doctor’s advice. He immediately began increasing the amount and intensity of his exercise program. He also started watching what he ate on a daily basis.

During the past seven or eight months, Johnson, who has a family history of heart disease, has dropped about 40 pounds from 290 to 250. He still needs to lose about 15 pounds to reach his goal of 235 pounds.

“I was doing a lot of body building before I had my heart attack, but I wasn’t really concentrating on exercises that would help my cardiovascular system,” he said. “I needed a lot of muscle to deal with some of those prisoners in my job as a prison guard.

“I’m lucky because my father was a professional boxer, and he instilled in his children the importance of staying in shape and working hard. I just fell off the ban wagon for a while. But thanks to doc, I’m back on track again.”