AFL goalkicking great Brendan Fevola has been given a sharp reminder not to take his health for granted after a scary heart episode.
The 43-year-old realised something wasn’t right when he was struggling to breathe while walking up the 1000 Steps trail at Mount Dandenong with a friend.
While his mate was chatting away with ease during the walk, the former Carlton and Brisbane full forward could hardly draw breath, let alone talk as well.
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Alarmed, he went straight to a doctor for a blood test.
“I went and got a health check. I think it’s important for all people to go get health checks but especially for males over 40,” he said on Fox FM.
“Because men, (we) usually just don’t worry about it. I’ll be like, ‘Oh my heart’s sore, it’ll go away’, and that’s mentally what we think because we’re stupid people.
“But I did go do the 1000 Steps the other day and I’ve got this heart app on my phone, and I got halfway up and I literally couldn’t breathe.”
Strangely though, despite feeling out of breath as his cardiovascular system was working overtime, the app was telling him his heart rate was sitting comfortably at 63, which would be quite a normal resting heart rate for a fit adult.
“You put your finger on it and it gets your pulse, and it was like 63(bpm) or something — it was the lowest it’s ever been. So, we just both thought I was fit,” Fevola continued.
“Then when I got home, I told Alex. She goes, ‘Well, do it now’, and I was on my recliner, I’d been there for two hours, and it was 120, just sitting there. She said, ‘There’s no oxygen getting to your heart when you’re exercising, so it means something’s blocked — this is not good’.
“I booked in to see the doctor yesterday and I said, ‘I want the lot; blood tests, ECG, give everything to me, I’m here’.
“So, I got done yesterday, I had an ECG test, which tests for heart attacks and everything, and it was normal, which was good. I got all the results back and they were all in the clear, I got them all back straight away.
“The other test included diabetes, cholesterol, prostate test, I got iron, I got kidney, I got liver. That’s what I was worried about, my liver, because I drink. Everything has come back normal.”
Puzzled about why he felt as though his heart was so irregular, the doctor said phone apps were not completely accurate and so his heart rate reading of 63 while he was puffing and panting up the 1000 Steps may have been incorrect.
But he was still alarmed by the extremely high reading of 120 while he had been completely sedentary for two hours.
That’s when the doctor gave the famously laid-back larrikin a diagnosis he definitely didn’t expect.
“She said, ‘The only thing I would advise’ — which is amazing and I don’t know where this has come from — but she said, ‘Your stress level’s a little bit high, you need to relax more’,” Fevola said to the laughter of his co-hosts.
“I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ve had a tough couple of months’. But it’s weird, because even when I (test) with the phone, it says my stress is real high.”
Fevola didn’t expect stress to be behind the ordeal, but regardless, he didn’t need another reminder about the importance of his health.
“I said that I’ve been a bit sore in here (heart area) over the past couple of months, so that’s why I went and got it checked,” he said.
“I thought, geez, I’ve had a couple of mates that have had heart attacks. I’ve had two that have died, two mates, all in the last six months, that are my age and, out of nowhere, just dropped.”
After topping the scales at 128kg last year, Fevola recently revealed a drastic change to his daily routine after realising he was unable to run after his five-year-old daughter.
Fevola is now closing in on his playing weight during his prime at the Blues, which was about 100kg, and is planning to dip under that mark.
He has been on several diets previously and once admitted he “thought (he’d) die” when he was made to lose weight through severe methods as an ambassador for Jenny Craig.
On that occasion, Fevola had random nose bleeds and feared for his life when he shed 12kg in nine days after “virtually not eating” for a week.
Speaking earlier this month, Fevola said he had felt much better.
His co-host Fifi Box said: “Fev, we’ve worked together for a long time now. I’ve been on this journey with you and your health. I love it when you’re healthy … and I feel like over the years you’ve done many diets, I’ve witnessed the diets, and it’s been a rollercoaster.
“I love lately that you’ve been talking about this. You’ve been saying, ‘I want to look after myself. I’m getting older’.
“We’ve noticed a change in behaviour.”
Part of that change has seen Fevola no longer ordering breakfast.
Fevola then admitted he was two weeks into “another” diet.
“And I’m feeling amazing. I’ve dropped like nine kilos,” he said.
“Wow,” Box said.
Fevola said he knew he had to take action when he was unable to run after his five-year-old daughter.
And now he has transformed himself by giving up pizza and pasta and starting a keto or ketogenic diet.
“I’m doing keto, which is perfect for me because it’s just fat. It’s no carbs, no sugar,” he said.
“And I’m not really a sugar person, so I don’t really eat chocolates that much. I know you guys have a crack at the Cadbury Favourites, but I don’t normally have a crack.
“I used to eat a fair bit of chocolate, but I know it’s not good for me. So, I’d opt for a banana or an apple while you guys eat your chocolate.
“This keto is amazing. I eat a lot of pizza, pasta … I love pizza and pasta. And probably every day for the last four years, I reckon I’ve had a large chips with extra salt, two gravies, and an aioli.
“I just sit on the couch and eat while I watch my sport. That’s not good for my heart. So, the keto is just like, I’ll be having cauliflower rice, cauliflower mash with like the meat. I’m having salmon, fish, chicken. The food’s actually beautiful, it’s everything I eat but taking out the carbs.
“I literally walk down the street now and people are like, ‘Is that him?’, because I’m fading away.”
Fevola said he was getting older and it was time to act.
“I’ve got a five-year-old (daughter) and I want to be able to run around.
“If I’m too overweight … which I was. I was up to 120 again. Last year I got up to 128, which is very heavy, and I can’t get around.
“By the time I finish this, I’ll be under my playing weight at Carlton. I’ll be around the same weight.”
– With Cameron Noakes
