ABOUT
The Dr. John Carey
FOUNDATION
THE HISTORY.
In August of 2020, I lost my father to heart disease. He was a physician, an intense athlete, and most importantly, a husband, father, son, brother, and friend.
My dad presented only one symptom leading up to his fatal heart attack. He had high blood pressure, but as a physician, he controlled it. He routinely checked his high blood pressure and listened to his heart. Like so many men, he had plenty of time for work, family, and golf but never made time to get a baseline cardiac check-up.
We were golfing when it happened. My life changed in an instant, in the worst way imaginable. My mom and I were forced with the task of removing all life-saving measures ninety minutes from the time he collapsed.
That day I made a promise to my dad that if I could help it, no other family would have to experience our tragedy.
Immediately, I began thinking of ways that I could make a difference? How could I turn this awful event and make it into a positive so that my dad could continue saving lives in death as he had in life?
Too often, the only sign of heart disease is sudden death. My dad exercised regularly, didn’t smoke, was not overweight, and died suddenly. He did not present any of the “usual” symptoms of acute heart disease, which typically are fatigue, shortness of breath, and swelling. In fact, he was known for mountain biking intensely 30 miles, 3x-4x a week. Very few people could keep up with him on the trails; even men 20 years his junior had a difficult time.
My dad had 75% blockage on his entire left side when a piece of plaque ruptured; his life was gone in an instant, and mine forever changed.
HARD TRUTH.
OUR MISSION.
It was with that single purpose that I founded the Dr. John Carey Foundation. Our mission is to save lives by increasing awareness about heart disease, promoting early detection, and supporting further cardiology care through our network of physicians.
PREVENTION.
We promote baseline mobile heart health checks at golf tournaments by providing a simple screening questionnaire partnered with an EKG machine. These relatively basic methods allow us to access whether an individual needs to go in for additional screening and, more specifically, a heart scan (also called a calcium score). A heart scan is the best way to detect whether one is at risk for arteriosclerosis.
