Gym helps woman recover from heart attack

Two years ago, Rhonda Atkinson sat down for an interview at a small Roseburg gym for women with little hope of landing a trainer position. She’s now convinced that getting the job saved her life.

Then weighing 253 pounds, the 5-foot-5-inch Roseburg resident said she hadn’t faced the reality of her health.

“I was in denial,” said Atkinson, an outgoing blonde in her 40s. “Food was an addiction.”

She found herself interviewing for a trainer position at Contours Express after spotting a newspaper ad. Atkinson accepted the job the same day of the interview. That first week she said she could barely make it through one of the gym’s 30-minute weight and cardio circuits. Exercise, though, is now a part of her workday.

That first month she began dropping weight. It was a grueling process.

“I’m a food connoisseur,” Atkinson said with a lively laugh. “It’s emotional, physical and psychological to lose weight, because food is an addiction for me.”

The gym members, whom she described as more like family than friends, formed a network of support for Atkinson. As Atkinson trained members on the machines, cheered them on and led fitness classes, the women encouraged her and held her accountable for her daily exercise regimen. She had workout partners and joined in on the gym’s Biggest Loser competition, tracking who could shed the most weight. As a fierce competitor, Atkinson found the challenge helped keep her focused. During the next two years she lost 61 pounds.

Meanwhile, the gym employing Atkinson was purchased by Connie Grady, a local doctor, in April. It’s now called Women’s Express Gym and boasts the philosophy “powered by women for women.”

By this spring Atkinson said she had more energy and felt healthier, but while she made the exercise step to living a healthier life, she still routinely caved to the temptations of unhealthy food — particularly her favorite indulgence, Jack in the Box’s spicy chicken bites smothered with ranch dressing.

Chest pain

But Atkinson’s diet was about to undergo a dramatic change. She had just stepped out of the shower one morning in April when she felt a pain in her chest that was like two hands clenching her heart.

Atkinson called for her daughter, Daysha Atkinson, who rushed her to the hospital. Rhonda Atkinson was having a massive heart attack.

About nine hours later, she was on her way to the Oregon Health and Science University, where she underwent a double bypass surgery.

“I think that I was in denial,” Rhonda said. “I didn’t really think that I was in trouble until they were life-flighting me to OHSU.”

In the hospital, Atkinson’s gym friends offered her and her family words of encouragement.

“It was quite a shock and to have one of our leaders fall,” Grady said. “Everyone was just very shocked, and they knew that she was in a financial bind.”

Atkinson arrived home from the hospital, she said, with $4 in her pocket, a list of medications she needed for her recovery — and no health insurance.

Members of the gym told her to go pick up her prescriptions at Albertsons. At the pharmacy, she found a $700 gift card in her name.

“It felt like we weren’t alone,” Daysha Atkinson, 20, said. “And it was nice to know that so many people cared that didn’t have to.”

For a week and a half, while Atkinson recovered at home, women from the gym arrived on her doorstep with a hot, healthy meal each night.

“It’s more than a gym,” Atkinson said. “It’s a sisterhood.”

Grady said she worked with her company’s insurance provider and was able to get Atkinson insurance. Insurance covered the majority of her medical bills, and Atkinson found a financial support program through the hospital that picked up the costs insurance left behind.

Less than six weeks later she had a second heart attack.

“I am a very, very lucky person to be here,” Atkinson said. “I can say exercise saved my life. If my heart wouldn’t have been strong, I wouldn’t be here today.”

A new beginning

“You go, girl,” Atkinson called out one morning, a month after her second heart attack. Her strong, energetic voice was directed to a group of five women forming a circle around her in the Women’s Express Gym. Dressed in black capri pants and a purple T-shirt bearing the gym’s logo, Atkinson extended her right hand to her opposite foot on the ground.

“She’s just vivacious and fun, and full of life,” Grady said.

Atkinson cheered on the women around her, a line of sweat beginning to bead on her forehead.

“You rock,” she yelled, with a big grin, to the woman on her right. “Good job, up and down, we got it.”

Since her health scare, Atkinson has embraced low-fat and low-sodium foods, although the lifestyle change hasn’t been easy. She admits she slips sometimes.

“I love to fry food,” she said. “If I could fry watermelon, I would fry watermelon.”

Adjusting her cooking habits and giving up the fried foods has been a challenge. She said she is feeling healthier. The 6-inch scar that runs down her chest serves as a reminder of the importance of changing her lifestyle. Atkinson holds a renewed appreciation for life.

“I feel grateful to hold my daughter’s hand,” she said. “You’re a changed person. You feel lucky as hell everyday.”