George Burroughs This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. Michigan City News Dispatch Online

   www.michigancityin.com/article - [Cached]

   Published on: 3/21/2004   Last Visited: 3/22/2004

   George Burroughs wears his crown while riding an exercise bike at St. Anthony Memorial Health Centers after being crowned the King of Hearts. Photo/Bill Swedenberg
   
   Back in 1988, George Burroughs had a little trouble with his heart. In fact, on one fall evening, his heart stopped.
   
   "Yes, I dropped dead one night and they brought me back with the paddles," Burroughs said.
   
   That was on Oct. 22, 1988.
   
   Last Tuesday, Burroughs, now 69, was crowned the King of Hearts by the Indiana Society of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation.
   
   Mike Christensen, exercise physiologist with St. Anthony Memorial Health Centers, presented Burroughs with a cardboard crown, a framed copy of the nominating letter Christensen wrote, a traveling plaque and a gift certificate for Lindos Restaurant.
   ...
   "I am stunned," said Burroughs, dressed in his workout clothes. He had expected to spend an hour working out on a treadmill, bicycle and lifting weights, as he usually does on his weekly visit to the hospital's cardiac rehab center.
   ...
   "I certainly was not expecting all of this," Burroughs said.
   ...
   In the end, however, everyone offered congratulations and posed with Burroughs for a group picture for the hospital scrap book.
   
   Burroughs and his wife, Sue, had been at his daughter's volleyball game at Rogers High School on Oct. 22, 1988.
   
   "All of a sudden, I got all sweaty," Burroughs said.
   
   When he got home, he went for a little walk.
   
   "When I got back, my wife was standing in the driveway."
   
   Burroughs told her he still wasn't feeling well.
   
   "I didn't have any pain," he said.
   ...
   "I told the woman at the desk, 'I think I'm having a heart attack,' " Burroughs said.
   
   Immediately, he was put in a wheelchair and moved to an examining room where his heart promptly stopped.
   
   A physician was able to get his heart pumping again, but Burroughs remembers nothing about the procedure.
   
   "When I woke up, I was in intensive care."
   
   Soon after, Burroughs was moved to St. Anthony Hospital in Crown Point, where he had an angiogram. His cardiologist, Dr. George Grcevich, decided he would not need surgery and helped Burroughs to manage his condition with medication, diet and exercise.
   
   By January 1989, Burroughs, a general superintendent for U.S. Steel and later a consultant for Konrady Plastics in Portage, was declared fit to return to work. He started his rehab program before returning to work and has been at it ever since.
   
   At the center, Burroughs exercises under the watchful eyes and monitors of the rehab center staff.
   
   At his Coolspring Township home, he also exercises and walks to keep fit.
   
   His diet has changed as well. "I eat very little meat now," he said, adding, "I used to eat quite a bit of ice cream."
   
   Now he thinks of dessert as a luxury to be saved for special occasions.
   
   "I'll have a piece of pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving and a cookie now and then," he said.
   
   He and his wife also stay active with their eight grandchildren, some of whom occasionally spend time at their home while their parents work.
   
   Burroughs gives credit for his recovery to the hospital staff and to his physicians, Grcevich and Dr. McKindra Fletcher, who saw him in the emergency room.
   ...
   "And these people are the greatest," Burroughs said, gesturing to the rehab staff.
   ...
   "She's wonderful," Burroughs said, then noted, "She's my neighbor."
   
   Pointing to Christensen, Burroughs proclaimed, "Mike is the best."
   ...
   The credit is not his, Christensen told Burroughs.
   ...
   Burroughs insists on sharing the credit.

2. 2. Konrady Plastics, Inc. Personnel -- Plastic parts machining and distribution

   www.konradyplastics.com/person - [Cached]

   Published on: 11/25/2006   Last Visited: 11/25/2006

   Brian Summa, George Burroughs