Russ' Road 

Act I - Factor V

In 2002, at age 36, Russ developed a blot clot from a genetic condition called Factor V Leiden, which he had been born with but had no idea he possessed. Unfortunately, the clot was resting on a precarious perch in his pelvis and was just waiting to break loose and travel directly to his heart, an often fatal condition known as pulmonary embolism or PE. He underwent urgent surgery to prevent a cardiac catastrophe and was placed on blood thinners for a year.  

In 2005, having thought his clotting days were behind him, Russ actually suffered a near fatal pulmonary embolism, again landing him in the hospital. The PE wiped out over half his lung function and put a significant amount of strain on his heart, so much so that the doctors wanted to give him a massive dose of a clot busting drug called TPA to dissolve the embolism that was now in several pieces thoughout his lungs. TPA can also make you bleed into your head. Being in excellent physical shape otherwise, Russ weighed the risks of TPA and decided his heart was strong enough to weather the storm without it. After a period of watchful waiting, things turned out well. Thank God. 

This should have been wake call number two for Russ as now he was now facing the reality of more clots in the future, possible strokes and blood thinners for life. He did take actually take stock of his life, family and career at that time, but as a busy 40 year old cardiothoracic surgeon trying to get a novel stem cell therapy through the FDA, his conscious decision to reprioritize his schedule lasted only a few weeks at best. About the only lasting change he made was a bigger commitment to exercising regularly.

Act II - Leukemia

In 2012, Russ was in the throws of building a successful surgical heart valve program in Wisconsin when out of the blue he developed leukemia. As with many surgeons, Russ at first just thought he was overworked, dehydrated and possibly coming down with the flu. After 24 hours of extreme headaches, fevers, chills and feeling lousy he developed some chest pain and went to the emergency room to make sure he wasn't having another PE or a stroke. He convinced the ER doc to scan him for clots and the scans were negative. Unfortunately, his blood work was not negative. The ER doc said his CBC was abnormal and gave him a diagnosis of Lyme's Disease since Russ had recently been camping. Having a gut feeling this was an erroneous diagnosis and having a full schedule of open heart surgeries to perform, Russ immediately called an oncologist and said, "I think I have leukemia, can you see me this afternoon?"

Unfortunately, Russ was right and the dominos were set in motion. After an urgent road trip to the Mayo Clinic, countless tests, some scary procedures, chemotherapy, and a long 6 months, he was finally able to begin the lonely road from "recovery to peak performance." This is the gap between when the healthcare system cuts you loose to get by on your own devices and when you are actually back up to full speed with your peers and colleagues. Sometimes this can take years.

Similar to 2005, all he could think about was getting back to his cardiac career and the valve program he was building. This time however, the recovery was harder, much harder. Relying on a strong heart wasn't going to be enough and for over a year Russ struggled with fatigue, lack of motivation and constantly searched for answers to questions like, "what actually is the meaning of it all?" 

That's when it all really hit him. He was quickly approaching 50 and didn't want to die working around the clock for a profit hungry hospital system as a cardiac surgeon who could really only help one person at a time.  He wanted to do more for more people and he wanted to do it now.

ACT III - Recovery to Performance

Often people talk about the perfect storm and how all the conditions were just right for something really extraordinary to happen. That's how Russ felt in 2013, after finally getting strong enough again to embark on the next big thing in his life. While maintaining a vigorous exercise program, he began planning to relocate his family back to Park City where he could start a clinic to help others avoid heart disease, stay away from the operating room, and live a full life after a major diagnosis like cancer.

Things didn't happen overnight and it took meeting and talking to a lot of amazing people like Eric Heiden and others before Russ could take the final steps toward making it happen. In 2015, Russ and Eric came up with the idea for a human performance center in Park City, where everyone regardless of age, ability and background could benefit from the principles of Sports Science and athletics to keep their hearts, minds and bodies functioning at peak performance. So, after a year of talking about it, Russ opened Park City Performance Medicine in affiliation with Heiden Orthopedics. Today the two entities work in a parallel partnership, as do Russ and Eric, to assist everyone in maintaining their optimal level of health and human performance.

Recognizing life is a journey and not a destination, Russ engages in some form of athletic activity daily in an attempt to maintain his own personal peak performance.

CALL Park City Performance Medicine

(435) 200-3452