Raise to Awareness

Never Expected this

Unless you have not been on Social Media in the last 12 months everyone knows that since July last year I was raising funds for the Heart foundation AU while Training to run the Melbourne Marathon and Rome Marathon with my cousin Rod and son Rico both of which I achieved along with 1000’s of km’s and the odd fun run thrown in with my good friends in Torino Italy.

During the training block I had a few setbacks which I put down to over training or lack of nutrition at the right times. HOW WRONG I WAS...!

Now I have a real reason to raise heart health awareness and really put my stamp on it. On April 21st, 2024, I went for a routine blood test after taking my body to hell and back at 46 years old just to make sure everything was spot on, and I have done this since I turned 40 regularly. What I was not ready for was the phone call the followed the next day. My Doctor called before 8am and expressed that I present to the Emergency room immediately due to a spike in my troponin levels ( basically it’s a protein released from the heart indicating it has been under stress or you have had a heart attack)

So off I went not to fussed presented to the Epworth in Richmond and had the necessary tests and scans done, all this time showing no symptoms of a heart attack. The service offered at the Epworth is amazing and everything was back in less than an hour and it was not such a great result it showed blockages in my heart.

In came the Cardiologist and he told me we had a time to do an angiogram to take a good look and we would most likely stint it up and move on. I was happy heart attack while running averted and get some stents and I would be back out on the road in a few weeks.

Chatting with the Cardiologist while he was doing the procedure everything was fun and I was watching it on the big screen he loved his American Sports and we are chatting away until he went silent and said can you give me a second mate I need to consult the Surgeon.

He came back in not so happy “mate you will be having bypass surgery at this stage it will be a Quintuple (5) bypass surgery.

So cut a long story short a week later I was being prepped to undergo bypass surgery at 46 with no symptoms having done 1000’s of Km’s for years  WOW mind blower I still haven’t been able to understand it and I am not 12 weeks post op.

It hasn’t been easy physically being so limited and no real guidelines for a 46-year-old weapon and recovery plan, but the real struggle has been mentally.

Now I am 12 weeks post op I have been back controlled running for the last 7 weeks and have a my first 10km race in September & October and my first half in December. I will be running both of these with Lucca to raise funds and awareness for Heart Foundation AU.
Please follow the link below to donate

https://www.doitforheart.org.au/fundraisers/jamesgrego/melbourne-marathon

As you can all imagine there is so much more to the story, and I will share it over time in other way.

During this time I have to say a special thanks to the handful of people that went through this with me
Bec and the Boys for everything everyday
My Mum and Dad for doing the driving around and staying over while normal life had to go on
and both my cousins Rod all the way from London brother we got some special time in Rome together but the support you gave me and Bec from the other side of the world was amazing mate I love you and Wayne mate the chats we had really took my mind off the shit and to know you were only a call away was unreal love you too mate.

MY WHY..!

5 years ago, our lives as a family changed forever when I got a call Rebecca Grego had been rushed to Hospital from work.

On the drive into Melbourne, I had no idea what was waiting for me at the other end, I certainly didn’t think I would be walking into an absolute nightmare.

What I walked into was a wife on life support with only speculation why she was there.

What Happened…

While sitting at her desk staring the day her heart went into Fibrillation (An inrregular hear beat that occurs when electrical signals in the antiria (2 upper chambers) fire rapidly at the same time) causing the heart to stop.

Her body was shutting down as she was now without oxygen for just over 12 min. Bec’s boss Nick kept her going with CPR until paramedics arrived, after 2 hits with the Defib and a shot of adrenaline she had a chance, heart had a beat.

So after a few days when the dust had settled it was time to take her off life support and let the body starting the healing process on it’s own. The problem was they could not bring her out of the coma which was not a great sign. On the 3^rd and final attempt, I made some promises to the GODS.. if they gave her back to me and the boys, I would make some serious changes in my life and lead by example not only with my family but my friends. So sure as shit when I threw that out there the GODS listened and I was now accountable for the promises I made.

Now the last 5 years has not been without its issues or bumps in the road, but we charge on and make this life count.

This journey has inspired me to create ‘THIE IRON LION”

Bec is now guarded by ME “The IRON LION” our boys “The IRON CUBS” 😊 and an internal Defibrillator so you could say she is SUPER protected.

With all that said I will be raising money for the Heart Foundation and creating awareness on Heart Health – Being active – and the Fact you can do anything your mind can imagine.

On this journey I will be running the following

1.       Run Melbourne Half Marathon July 2023

2.       Melbourne Full Marathon Oct 2023

3.       Gold Coast 50

4.       Run Rome Full Marathon Mar 2024

5.       TBA 2024 something bloody big though