Young AFib survivor uses his story to encourage others

Writer: Sylvie Sparks
Published: Updated:

Shocked, scared and confused are the words 23-year-old Thomas Pritchard uses to describe how he felt when his heart went into atrial fibrillation.

“I had no idea what atrial fibrillation was,” Pritchard said. “I actually heard a doctor on the phone, I wasn’t supposed to hear, they said, ‘He’s how old? We’ve never seen that.’” 

Pritchard’s young life changed forever after he ran his first marathon in November.

“I was an athlete my whole life. I played four years of collegiate lacrosse. I found a love after college lacrosse for running and for running marathons. I ran a marathon and very shortly after, within a week of the marathon, I was diagnosed with heart disease.”

He couldn’t believe it. He didn’t know why his heart went into AFib.

He still doesn’t, but four months have past, and Pritchard refuses to live in fear.

“I want everything in front of me. I want to see everything and if something worse happens, we’re going to handle it.”

Now he’s using his survival story to help others navigate life with heart disease.

That’s what brought him to Estero Park on Wednesday morning: taking a walk with the American Heart Association of southwest Florida on National Walking Day.

“I run maybe five to seven days a week. With that being said, a lot of people can’t run, but if you walk and you get a sweat and maybe test your heart rate out a little bit, your life expectancy could skyrocket.”

So heart disease doesn’t keep the lifelong athlete, now a physical education teacher and coach, from breaking a sweat, in fact it encourages him to sweat some more.

“I’m actually getting better at running, which is crazy to say if you told me that when I got diagnosed with heart disease.”

More importantly, he wants others to see his progress and be encouraged by his story because staying active can save lives.

Less than five months after his first marathon and heart disease diagnosis, Pritchard is competing in his first Spartan Race at the end of April.

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