by Sanjay Sarda (Supertech Emerald Court; 7838330700)
We lost our dear friend Arun Goyal on 2 October, while playing tennis at Emerald Court with us. He was there with us, having just completed a cross-court tennis rally in one moment and was gone in the next. He did not indicate any distress or discomfort. We were all with him and just a few minutes earlier during a customary water break after 4 games, we were casually chatting and making jokes. It is unimaginable to us how we can lose him in a matter of seconds. Inspite of all efforts of CPR etc by us in the best way that we could, we failed to save him. We reached hospital in about 12 minutes but he was brought dead. He seems to have breathed his last while hitting his last shot of a game he loved dearly – tennis. All of us friends have replayed the events of that fateful day a hundred times over in our mind and find no clue as to what happened to our dear friend.
Doctors now say he had a massive cardiac arrest. They also tell us of the alarmingly increase in the number of incidents of cardiac arrest happening in this relatively young age group. It is not sure whether this is a collateral damage of Covid or something else. Most victims were active and in seemingly good health and many were in the midst of some exercise routine when the fatal cardiac arrest happened.
But some things are clear. Our bodies do give us signals of impending danger whenever we over-indulge in eating or drinking or have prolonged sleep deprivation, over exercise or have excessive stress. We tend to underplay these distress signals, remain in self-denial and do not do the course corrections that the body urgently wants us to do. Over a period of time, the problems continue to build up in our bodies and, oblivious of the dangers, we continue our normal routine till disaster finally strikes – and it is game over. We should be always alert, sensitive and responsive to such signals.
Regular check-ups of vitals, keeping track of the important biomarkers, proper medicines and supplements, periodic executive check-ups are most important and we tend to ignore them when healthy.
The real killer is undoubtedly stress and by our over-worked tight schedules in the craze for a life style full of materialistic pleasures and symbols of power and wealth, we are killing ourselves. The lesson taught in Covid that we can survive even with limited resources, is now forgotten and we are all caught up in a mad frenzy of amassing wealth, fancy cars and spacious homes at the cost of our health – the one important thing that should have been our top priority.
Lastly, as most of the cases of sudden cardiac arrest that we come to hear are of men in the peak of their careers. It is not possible that the distress signals being given were not seen by their loved ones. The family members must have counselled and then given up when faced with the adamant self-denial of the men. A healthy environment at home where problems and concerns are freely discussed, with love and understanding, is required so that no one needs to hide their true feelings. It is the responsibility of the men to help create this environment of trust and mutual respect so that an advice can be given and received well – after all family members are our best well-wishers. We all love our families and we owe it to them for staying healthy.
But at the end, what is the use of being wiser after the event. We could not save dear Arun and that guilt will remain with us for the rest of our lives. Let us hope we can save some other Arun, who after reading this does some introspection and makes some course correction.
It is ironical that even the best of friends cannot attend each other’s funerals. Grief of losing a friend in this way is like the ocean; it comes on waves ebbing and flowing. Sometimes the water is calm, and sometimes it is overwhelming. We pray that we can somehow learn to swim.
