Socrates Mabry worked with exercise physiologist Mimi Helms to get back to his active life after a cardiac emergency.

Socrates “Soc” Mabry had just finished running on an outdoor track at a university in River Forest about five months ago when it started raining. He sent a text message to his wife telling her he ran a mile and then got in his car to drive home.

Then he drove into a tree.

Wake-up call
“I put the car in gear, blacked out and went 200 feet before I hit a tree,” Mabry says. “I didn’t have any major injuries – just a sprained wrist – but my car was totaled.”

A Chicago police detective, Mabry had experienced syncope, or fainting – a sudden, brief loss of consciousness caused by decreased blood flow to the brain. The 44-year-old was transported to an Oak Park hospital where tests revealed nothing unusual. But his wife, Shawn, is a house director at Adventist Hinsdale Hospital and insisted he be transferred there.

“They did a lot of tests but everything came back normal,” Mabry says.

Then Dr. Gregory Lewis, a cardiac electrophysiologist, ordered a stress test.

“I thought, ‘Why not?’ I had my running shoes on anyway,” Mabry recalls. “They noticed something that wasn’t right. Two days later, I was in the cath lab. One of my arteries was 100 percent clogged.”

Mabry had not experienced any other symptoms. Doctors told him that his body compensated by creating collateral circulation. In the cath lab, two stents were inserted to support the clogged artery.

A few weeks later, Mabry entered Adventist Hinsdale Hospital’s outpatient cardiac rehab center where he met Mimi Helms, an exercise physiologist who served as his case manager. It turned out to be a wonderful match.

On the run
“I told Mimi, ‘I’m very coachable,’” Mabry recalls. And the two worked very closely together.

“Soc was super motivated to get back to what he was doing,” Helms says. “He’s a young, fit person and it’s surprising that this happened to him.”

The 12-week program includes stretching and cardio exercises, light weight training and patient education.

“He gradually did more and more, and after about eight weeks he told me he wanted to start running,” Helms says.

“I really wanted to get back to running,” Mabry says. “I love running – whether on the basketball court, outside or on the treadmill.”

Mabry’s team included Helms, nurses and his cardiologist. Dr. Lewis approved Mabry’s running on the treadmill, as long as his heart rate stayed under 170 beats per minute, which was easy to track because rehab patients wear heart monitors when they’re exercising.

“We put him on the treadmill for a half hour and alternated between walking and running,” Helms says. “By the time his rehab was over, he was running for 25 minutes and walking for five minutes. He was an excellent patient.”

Mabry was motivated to take back his health. “I went for it,” Mabry says. “I’m an old athlete. I play basketball. I run. I even play paintball. But my main thing was to get back to running.”

“Cardiac rehab was solid practice – a real workout – three days a week,” he says. “I did the bike, the treadmill, weights and even the step machine.”

Making life changes
Mabry also lost weight. He entered rehab at about 237 pounds and left at 223 pounds, without making major changes in his diet.

“I eat more yogurt and I use ground turkey a lot, and I love salads without dressing,” Mabry says.

Mabry and his wife have a blended family of five children, one in college, two in high school and two in grade school. He plans to return to work at the police department. Meanwhile, he’s running at his track and he intends to keep active.

Learn more about cardiac rehab by calling 866-533-7968.