Lynn man finds passion for fitness

MARBLEHEAD – After surviving two serious heart conditions, Mike Day is almost glad it happened.The 21-year-old Lynn resident said without the ordeal, he would have never found his passion: fitness.Day works part-time as a personal trainer at the Jewish Community Center of the North Shore in Marblehead, while studying fitness and wellness at Salem State College.Day said doctors diagnosed him with Kawasaki disease, which causes blood vessel inflammation throughout the body, including the heart, when he was just 3.?It?s like a very bad flu, but more deadly,” he said.Day said he hardly remembers being treated for the disease, but he had more of a recollection of his Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome diagnosis at age 13.Those with WPW have an extra electrical pathway in the heart, which causes their hearts to race uncontrollably. Day said the syndrome was a side effect of the Kawasaki disease, but the symptoms of WPW did not manifest themselves until adolescence.When Day first noticed an episode of rapid heart rate, he thought it was just a result of his participation in sports.?I thought I was exhausted. But then I realized, when I got home, my heart was still racing,” he said. “I was having trouble catching my breath. I was just trying to relax, but my heart kept racing and racing.”Day said he saw a doctor the next day and was soon diagnosed with WPW. His doctors determined he would need surgery, and in 2003, when Day was 14, he had his first operation, where the extra valve in his heart was frozen. But that would not be his last time in surgery.?Within the next few months they had to do a lot of tests, and the next surgery they did was the same surgery, but instead of freezing the area, they went in and burned the whole area out,” he said.The two surgeries marked the end of Day?s heart problems and he has since had a clean bill of health.?I?m 100 percent now. After a month follow-up in there and a little bit of monitoring, the disease was cleared up. I?m perfectly healthy,” he said.Day?s medical problems prior to the surgeries led him to an increased interest in fitness. He said that because he was playing football and baseball and working out all the time, his heart was under too much stress and he had to make a lifestyle change.?The doctors gave me an option: either give up the exercising or quit the sports. So I had to quit the sports and maintain my fitness ? The biggest risk of the disease, if the (heart rate gets too fast) I lose consciousness. It can cause sudden cardiac death,” Day said.The 2009 Lynn English High School graduate then started to lift weights and occasionally do other physical exercises, with the help and encouragement of his father.Fitness became a bonding activity for him and his father, Day said.?He still works out with me all the time,” he said.He added that his mother and brother also join in on trips to the gym.Day started working at the JCC a year ago as a fitness attendant and started as a personal trainer in November. He said he does not share his story with all of his clients, but does bring it up if he thinks it will be a good motivational tool.Frank Ancharski, interim general manager at the JCC, said Day is a dedicated trainer and a very relatable person.?He gets instant credibility with anyone over 40 who has had some of their own challenges,” he said.Day said he is committed to staying heart healthy by eating a nutritious selection of foods, abstaining from drinking or smoking, and continuing on his fitness path.?It doesn?t matter what kind of shape you?re in,” he said. “If you don?t have a healthy heart, it?s not going to be a good life for you in the future.”In honor of February?s designation as “American Heart Month,” the JCC is holding a variety of exercise and health events. For more information, visit jccns.org or call 781-631-8330.Sarah Mupo can be reached at [email protected].