Runner, 80, completes L.A. Marathon three months after major heart surgery

Claude Bruni has 98 marathon races under his belt, including every Los Angeles Marathon since 1986. Nothing can keep Bruni, who ’s 80, from running.Not even major surgery, as it turns out.Last December, the retired owner of auto repair shop from Century City needed open heart surgery. But the 2017 L.A. Marathon was right around  the corner, and there was no way Bruni would miss it. He told his doctor that his goal was to participate in the race that was only three months away — on March 19.“I told him that I couldn’t see how anyone could recover from major cardiac surgery and run a marathon in three months!” said his surgeon, Dr. Richard Shemin, the Robert and Kelly Day professor and chief of cardiac surgery at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.Bruni used to run marathons in just three hours, but last October  he noticed that his training times were slowing down. He went to see his cardiologist, Dr. Andrew Watson, an associate professor of cardiology at UCLA, for a check-up. Tests showed that the aortic valve that controls blood leaving his heart was severely blocked, and the mitral valve was leaking. “I had no idea I was so sick,” Bruni said. “I could have dropped dead in the street from a heart attack. Thankfully, my cardiologist was sharp enough to figure it out.”  Courtesy of Claude BruniClaude Bruni wore a shirt at the 2017 L.A. Marathon that honors the people at Reagan UCLA Medical Center and his cardiac surgeon, Dr. Richard Shemin.On Dec. 12, he...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news