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Barry Sanders Takes on Heart Disease with Amgen · Get Real with Jim Weiss

0:00
Speaker 1: I've wore this hat on purpose that says legend. I mean,
0:03
Speaker 1: how often do you get to interview a living legend
0:06
Speaker 1: like Barry Sanders, who's done so much for so many
0:10
Speaker 1: over the years, but now through this campaign around knowing
0:14
Speaker 1: your number for cholesterol, preventing the event, which of course
0:18
Speaker 1: is something we're dedicated to doing. Here, listening to the
0:21
Speaker 1: warning signs of a heart attack or a stroke and
0:23
Speaker 1: getting to the hospital quickly realizing it's not something normal
0:28
Speaker 1: can save so many lives. Really incredible to work with
0:31
Speaker 1: someone to create awareness around something like that. I've interacted
0:34
Speaker 1: with them here.
0:35
Speaker 2: And there over the years.
0:36
Speaker 1: Star Power, who has worked with us, has worked with
0:39
Speaker 1: Barry for a long time, and there's a reason, you know,
0:42
Speaker 1: he is very real, puts the message over in a
0:45
Speaker 1: way that I think is truly authentic. Yeah, it's great
0:48
Speaker 1: talking to a contemporary who's going through real stuff, right.
0:52
Speaker 1: I mean, I've had we've all had, you know, moments
0:55
Speaker 1: where you have to listen to your symptoms and get
0:58
Speaker 1: to the hospital to take care of yourself because we
1:00
Speaker 1: got loved ones waiting and depending on us, And so
1:04
Speaker 1: I think guys in particular don't tend to do that
1:08
Speaker 1: they think, Okay, I'll fight through it or the pain
1:11
Speaker 1: or whatever it is. And it was interesting to hear
1:13
Speaker 1: him say how unusual he'd felt his chest pain was
1:16
Speaker 1: when he went and then related all this information about
1:20
Speaker 1: the documentary that is helping so many more people. So
1:24
Speaker 1: again he's out there creating impact, saving lives, which I
1:27
Speaker 1: really it's hard to top that type of effort. I
1:30
Speaker 1: think it's always courageous to get out there and talk
1:32
Speaker 1: about your health because that's not necessarily in anybody's business,
1:36
Speaker 1: but what it does for so many others, I think
1:39
Speaker 1: his remarkable. Glad you're here, Thanks for being here, Barry.
1:45
Speaker 2: Oh, you're very welcome. Good to see you again. Welcome
1:48
Speaker 2: to get real.
1:49
Speaker 1: I'm going to start with why you're here with me
1:52
Speaker 1: today and then end with some questions about your career.
1:54
Speaker 1: So you've partnered with Amgen to raise awareness about heart
1:57
Speaker 1: disease after your heart attack and twenty twenty four. Glad
2:01
Speaker 1: you survived that. Thank God. I've had my own brushes,
2:05
Speaker 1: but more a fib not heart attack, but certainly no
2:08
Speaker 1: plenty of people who've been through it. It's been a
2:11
Speaker 1: lot of my career in the space. What have you
2:14
Speaker 1: learned that you wish you knew that when you were
2:17
Speaker 1: having the experience.
2:18
Speaker 3: It's been quite an education, honestly. That's why just partnering
2:22
Speaker 3: with Amgene and being on the journey and doing the
2:25
Speaker 3: documentary putting really a name with the faces of people
2:30
Speaker 3: that represent so many that deal with heart attacking stroke
2:34
Speaker 3: and you know, the documentary The Making or Heart Attack,
2:37
Speaker 3: you know, which featured me, myself and several other heart
2:40
Speaker 3: attack stroke victims. But learning just all the you know,
2:43
Speaker 3: the risk factors and the misconceptions and that sort of thing,
2:46
Speaker 3: and then you know, you get into like just learning
2:49
Speaker 3: about bad cholesterol LEDLC, but the misconceptions are probably the
2:55
Speaker 3: biggest things that I learned about.
2:56
Speaker 1: So what are some of those I mean, say, victim
2:59
Speaker 1: and my you're a survivor and maybe those folks are too.
3:03
Speaker 1: Do you feel more like a survivor than a victim,
3:06
Speaker 1: you know, given that you're out here talking about it
3:08
Speaker 1: and helping others?
3:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think it's a little bit of both.
3:11
Speaker 3: But I think if you want to, you know, if
3:13
Speaker 3: you talk about what are risk factors, it could be
3:16
Speaker 3: something that's just in your family tree. In my case,
3:19
Speaker 3: I assumed I was doing most things right, I would
3:22
Speaker 3: have thought, Yeah, I'm fortunate that I had a good
3:25
Speaker 3: team of doctors who understood, you know, about bad cholesterol
3:30
Speaker 3: LAURAA LDOC and just hopefully passing that message on to
3:34
Speaker 3: people that I'm able to share the story with. And
3:37
Speaker 3: the main thing is, obviously, you know the only way
3:40
Speaker 3: to find out is to have the conversation with your
3:42
Speaker 3: doctor and see where you are with your LDOC or
3:45
Speaker 3: bad cholesterol, and just understanding there's no way to kill
3:48
Speaker 3: just by looking at someone whether they have high risk
3:51
Speaker 3: factors for heart attack or stroke. So he has been
3:54
Speaker 3: definitely an education as far.
3:55
Speaker 1: As that were there warning signs or was your heart
3:58
Speaker 1: attack complete surprise to me?
4:00
Speaker 2: It was a complete surprise. Yeah.
4:02
Speaker 3: I woke up, I had this slight burning right in
4:04
Speaker 3: the middle of my chest and just thought it was heartburn,
4:10
Speaker 3: you know, similar to what I would do as an athlete.
4:12
Speaker 2: You know.
4:12
Speaker 3: I was kind of paste and feel like I could
4:14
Speaker 3: kind of walk it off, like let me you know,
4:16
Speaker 3: let me walk this off, whatever that means. And if
4:20
Speaker 3: you talk about education, right, that's one thing that I
4:24
Speaker 3: realized that, Yeah, I mean this was much deeper than that.
4:27
Speaker 2: For one, I didn't know what a real symptom was
4:30
Speaker 2: for a heart attack or struggle.
4:31
Speaker 3: Right, So that was a real education, right, I didn't
4:33
Speaker 3: realize that that was a symptom. There's other symptoms as
4:36
Speaker 3: well that other people experience, And so woke up with
4:38
Speaker 3: that burning sensation.
4:40
Speaker 1: What did you think it was? I'm having an anxiety attack,
4:44
Speaker 1: like what I.
4:44
Speaker 3: Thought it was heartburn, even though that's not something I
4:47
Speaker 3: even experienced that much of it had been probably since
4:50
Speaker 3: I was a teenager, since.
4:51
Speaker 2: I had heartburn.
4:52
Speaker 3: But that's really the only thing I could associated with
4:55
Speaker 3: during that day, you know, as it lingered, I eventually
4:58
Speaker 3: went to the emergency room and that's when they do
5:01
Speaker 3: the tests and they see that there's something going on,
5:03
Speaker 3: and then they pinpointed, oh no, this is exactly what
5:06
Speaker 3: it was a heart attack. And when and when the
5:08
Speaker 3: doctor said those words, it just kind of stunned me
5:11
Speaker 3: because it was just hard to believe that it happened
5:13
Speaker 3: that way, and that I guess I was that ignorant
5:16
Speaker 3: of any signs and symptoms.
5:18
Speaker 2: That was definitely a real education.
5:20
Speaker 1: Were people around you? Did you just take yourself or
5:23
Speaker 1: did someone say, hey, you better go because this is
5:25
Speaker 1: weird that you still have in these chest pains.
5:27
Speaker 2: I actually drove myself to the emergency room.
5:30
Speaker 1: Wow, what compelled you to do it? I mean why?
5:33
Speaker 2: I just knew that.
5:34
Speaker 3: For me, I think that the thinking was pretty much
5:38
Speaker 3: any ailment or injury. You know, I can kind of
5:41
Speaker 3: pinpoint this is why my shoulder's hurting, this is why
5:45
Speaker 3: my leg's hurting, this is why whatever is hurting, you know.
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Speaker 3: But in this case, I was like, I don't, I don't.
5:51
Speaker 3: I can't pinpoint any real reason where this would have
5:55
Speaker 3: come from. So I just said, now, let me go
5:58
Speaker 3: to the emergency room because this just doesn't make sense
6:01
Speaker 3: to me.
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Speaker 2: I didn't think heart, but I just thought, then it's weird.
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Speaker 3: It's just out of the ordinary and al in left
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Speaker 3: field enough where let me have the doctor to look
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Speaker 3: at it.
6:10
Speaker 1: Good. Well, you know some people you kind of have
6:13
Speaker 1: that wishful thinking there's nothing wrong with me, so I'll
6:15
Speaker 1: just keep going. And I've had friends that wait two
6:18
Speaker 1: three days, which is not you know, some didn't make
6:21
Speaker 1: it and then some do luckily. But you're already causing damage.
6:26
Speaker 1: Did you know your numbers you mentioned LDLC. Did you
6:30
Speaker 1: know your numbers before the heart attack? Were you tracking cholesterol?
6:34
Speaker 2: I wasn't tracking it.
6:35
Speaker 3: I was going to get around to going and doing
6:37
Speaker 3: my yearly physical But no, I didn't know ledoc in
6:40
Speaker 3: back cholesterol. I didn't have that in of my vocabulary.
6:43
Speaker 3: I would have been completely oblivious to that.
6:46
Speaker 1: What drew you to doing this movie? What was the
6:49
Speaker 1: why for you?
6:50
Speaker 3: For me, it was it was a couple of things.
6:52
Speaker 3: It was just an important story to tell. All these
6:56
Speaker 3: individuals stories were important, and so for me as we
7:01
Speaker 3: live in this world, were a lot of athletes and
7:04
Speaker 3: people that are in the public eye. They're doing various
7:07
Speaker 3: things to engage with their fans. They have podcasts, they
7:11
Speaker 3: have radio shows, whatever the case. I've been doing that
7:15
Speaker 3: anyways since I've retired. Having that conversation and so just
7:20
Speaker 3: being able to share my story, just thought it was
7:23
Speaker 3: an important and essential story to tell. Certainly when you
7:28
Speaker 3: really look at the other individuals featured in the making
7:31
Speaker 3: of a Heart Attack and just a journey that they
7:34
Speaker 3: have gone on, the amazing stories that they have to tell,
7:37
Speaker 3: and then also just the work that they're doing now
7:40
Speaker 3: and the passion that they have and the fight and
7:43
Speaker 3: determination to be able to change the narrative, to be
7:45
Speaker 3: able to educate people within their communities and within their reach.
7:50
Speaker 3: I was definitely inspired by that. I think that's definitely
7:53
Speaker 3: a big part of the why.
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Speaker 2: Yeah.
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Speaker 1: Well, so have you heard any remarkable feedback from fans
7:58
Speaker 1: or viewers who shared information survival stories because they watched it.
8:03
Speaker 1: Did you feel you're helping people through what you're doing.
8:06
Speaker 1: It seems like you are, and we got to obviously promoted.
8:10
Speaker 1: Can we still see it on A and E or
8:12
Speaker 1: can we download it? Can we view it? I think
8:15
Speaker 1: you probably can stream it.
8:17
Speaker 2: Yes, you can still see it.
8:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, so we'll make sure we link that to this
8:21
Speaker 1: piece because that's important.
8:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, and people can go to a tech Heartdisease dot
8:25
Speaker 3: com slash documentary and find it a tech Heart Disease
8:29
Speaker 3: dot com slash documentary. You can view that, and then
8:31
Speaker 3: you can also view some testing options as well. But
8:34
Speaker 3: to answer your question about feedback, I've gotten some really
8:38
Speaker 3: great feedback from a lot of fans and individuals who
8:42
Speaker 3: have their own story about going to get tested for
8:45
Speaker 3: and seeing where their high LDLC is. You know, it
8:47
Speaker 3: really runs the gamut of stories about how they've been
8:51
Speaker 3: impacted by a heart attacking stroke that some people have
8:54
Speaker 3: the story of them they wish they had learned sooner,
8:57
Speaker 3: you know, maybe they could have helped.
8:58
Speaker 2: The loved one or a friend or whatever.
9:00
Speaker 3: But it's definitely created a different conversations between me and
9:04
Speaker 3: some of those fans. But yeah, that's very real and
9:08
Speaker 3: very much now a part of some of those interactions
9:11
Speaker 3: that I do have with some of the fans.
9:12
Speaker 1: That's amazing. I mean it must be so gratifying different
9:16
Speaker 1: than how it used to be, right, You certainly interactive
9:19
Speaker 1: with fans your whole career, but doing it where you're
9:22
Speaker 1: maybe saving some lives, it's pretty feels good.
9:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, I hope so.
9:26
Speaker 3: And just getting vital information out there, right because when
9:29
Speaker 3: you look at it, just for something that's so prevalent, right, right,
9:34
Speaker 3: that happens so often, they're still just maybe myth and
9:40
Speaker 3: misunderstandings surrounding it. Risk factors come in various shapes and colors,
9:47
Speaker 3: for sure, but awareness is where you start having those
9:51
Speaker 3: conversations with doctors has to be a big part of
9:54
Speaker 3: the conversation, the major part of the conversation. And the
9:57
Speaker 3: sooner you go to get onto it and as soon
10:00
Speaker 3: as you get out in front of it, the better.
10:01
Speaker 2: Things like that, So we hope we can.
10:03
Speaker 3: Certainly raise the education level and the understanding and make
10:07
Speaker 3: sure that people have the right information that they need
10:11
Speaker 3: for this topic.
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Speaker 1: Well, what was the best gift that you gave yourself
10:14
Speaker 1: and your health by retiring when you did.
10:17
Speaker 3: I probably got a lot of time back just to
10:20
Speaker 3: enjoy life and kind of figure things out. You know,
10:23
Speaker 3: I was in my late twenties, early thirties. You know,
10:25
Speaker 3: I was heavily invested as a player and just prepare
10:29
Speaker 3: myself and what it took to be a player.
10:32
Speaker 2: On a daily basis.
10:33
Speaker 3: But there was that small part of me that looked
10:36
Speaker 3: forward to, you know, whatever was next. I feel like
10:39
Speaker 3: that was a reward to be able to just be
10:41
Speaker 3: able to enjoy the fact that I had played and
10:44
Speaker 3: the fact that I had made a great name for myself,
10:47
Speaker 3: but also be able to enjoy it in a certain
10:49
Speaker 3: way and be young enough to enjoy it and pretty
10:52
Speaker 3: much able to get around physically. I was still in
10:55
Speaker 3: pretty good shape and so I could actually enjoy I
10:57
Speaker 3: have fruits in my labor, I guess is what I'm
10:59
Speaker 3: trying to see.
11:00
Speaker 1: And you've been giving back doing this sort of work,
11:02
Speaker 1: spreading good word. I know we've worked with you for
11:06
Speaker 1: on many campaigns, but this one a little more special.
11:09
Speaker 1: I have this phrase we call prevent the event. How
11:12
Speaker 1: are you getting real about health? To stay strong for
11:15
Speaker 1: as long as possible so this doesn't happen again. Obviously
11:20
Speaker 1: you know your number and you're dealing with it. What
11:23
Speaker 1: would you tell people how to take care of themselves
11:26
Speaker 1: at this stage of life?
11:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would say just be proactive. I would say
11:31
Speaker 3: that there's a lot going on in everyone's life. But
11:34
Speaker 3: this is certainly an important conversation that you have among
11:38
Speaker 3: all other important conversations. Whoever out there is listening.
11:42
Speaker 2: We know that you are.
11:43
Speaker 3: Important to you, the people in your world. You know,
11:47
Speaker 3: we want you certainly to have the right information surrounding
11:50
Speaker 3: heart health and stroke, having that conversation with your doctor,
11:53
Speaker 3: knowing your number, right, where do you stand with back cholesterol?
11:57
Speaker 1: And that's pretty easy to get into these days. It's
11:59
Speaker 1: not expensive to figure this out, right.
12:02
Speaker 2: That's true. Yeah, it isn't expensive.
12:04
Speaker 3: Everyone for whatever reason, may not have just to write
12:07
Speaker 3: or accurate information. I'm happy that I can lend my
12:09
Speaker 3: voice to the conversation. Tell people to go to the website,
12:13
Speaker 3: you know at Tachhartdisease dot com slash documentary be proactive
12:16
Speaker 3: and taking care of yourself?
12:18
Speaker 1: Awesome?
12:19
Speaker 2: Any tips?
12:20
Speaker 1: What do you do? Do you run every day? Do
12:21
Speaker 1: you work out? How do you stay where you want
12:25
Speaker 1: to stay?
12:25
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I'm definitely listening to my doctors, but also
12:28
Speaker 3: I have a hard healthy workout. It involves some running
12:31
Speaker 3: and involves some walking and things like that. You know,
12:34
Speaker 3: everyone everyone's different as far as what they need to do.
12:36
Speaker 3: But my plan does involve some amount of working out.
12:40
Speaker 3: You know, It's not the same that I used to
12:41
Speaker 3: do when I was much younger and you know, as
12:46
Speaker 3: a player.
12:46
Speaker 2: But yeah, but there's definitely that part of it. Good.
12:49
Speaker 1: That's a perfect segue. I love an origin story. So
12:52
Speaker 1: what or who gave you the strives to do what
12:55
Speaker 1: you accomplished? Who were one, two, or maybe three influential
12:58
Speaker 1: people in your life? I mean, who were your mentors,
13:01
Speaker 1: who were your role models? Who got you there?
13:04
Speaker 2: Oh?
13:04
Speaker 3: I think having good examples at home to your mom? Yeah, parents, Yeah,
13:09
Speaker 3: think about I think about mom.
13:11
Speaker 2: She never.
13:13
Speaker 3: Shine much light on herself, but she's definitely one who
13:17
Speaker 3: was just a great influence and the great mom.
13:19
Speaker 2: And you know, I remember.
13:21
Speaker 3: When she was going back to school to become a
13:23
Speaker 3: nurse and just how she would just a schedule that
13:27
Speaker 3: she had right because she would work overnight in a
13:30
Speaker 3: nursing home. And so when we were going to bed
13:34
Speaker 3: getting ready for you know, for school, she was going
13:37
Speaker 3: out to work, right, and then we were so when
13:40
Speaker 3: we were going off to school, she was come home
13:41
Speaker 3: from work. She'd get send us off the school, and
13:44
Speaker 3: then she'd go to class in the afternoon right when
13:47
Speaker 3: we were in when we were away in school, she'd
13:49
Speaker 3: do that for a few hours, and then she'd come
13:51
Speaker 3: home and fix dinner. I mean, it was I don't
13:52
Speaker 3: I don't know how she did it, honestly, And I'm
13:54
Speaker 3: one of eleven.
13:55
Speaker 2: I was always a big fan of sports.
13:57
Speaker 3: So there's a lot of guys I love watching football,
14:00
Speaker 3: and I remember, you know, guys like Marcus Sallen or
14:02
Speaker 3: Tony dor Set or Earl Campbell or all these run
14:06
Speaker 3: backs and this great football happening in like seventies eighties.
14:09
Speaker 3: And then you know, my dad, he was like the
14:11
Speaker 3: hugest Jim Brown fan.
14:13
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, cool, we like that.
14:15
Speaker 3: But that's where I got my love from sports. Yeah,
14:18
Speaker 3: I mean, and I think passion for sports.
14:20
Speaker 1: We Syracuse people like that. I went to Syracuse.
14:24
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, in nineteen eighty.
14:26
Speaker 1: Eight year awarded the Heisman. What was it like to
14:29
Speaker 1: have all that attention on you at such a young age?
14:31
Speaker 1: Did it make the transition to the NFL easier because
14:34
Speaker 1: you'd gotten that Heisman and got all that attention?
14:37
Speaker 3: I felt like since I was kind of a late bloomer,
14:40
Speaker 3: so I didn't have a lot of attention to coming
14:41
Speaker 3: to high school, and so I was able to kind
14:43
Speaker 3: of sit back for a few years. You probably know this.
14:46
Speaker 3: I played college football. Would a guy named Thurman Thomas.
14:49
Speaker 3: So he's a Hall of Famer. He was a junior
14:51
Speaker 3: of my freshman year, so I got a chance to
14:53
Speaker 3: see him. You know, that was sort of a great
14:56
Speaker 3: thing to be able to witness and how to handle
14:59
Speaker 3: college football and and all the attention, but it was
15:03
Speaker 3: still a lot to handle.
15:04
Speaker 2: No one would have ever predicted that.
15:06
Speaker 3: I was gonna win the Hypen in eighty eight, but
15:08
Speaker 3: I had a great situation, and I was really, you know,
15:11
Speaker 3: just eager that I could prove that I could get
15:14
Speaker 3: on the field and compete because I watched so many
15:16
Speaker 3: great players and I understood that being you know, a
15:20
Speaker 3: college football player, being a running back. What I felt
15:23
Speaker 3: like just a legacy. I didn't feel the pressure. But
15:27
Speaker 3: as the year went on, and as you're stacking up
15:29
Speaker 3: numbers and their companion with other great players, and to
15:32
Speaker 3: go past a guy that I watched, Marcus Allen, who
15:36
Speaker 3: ran for two thousand yards as a as a running
15:39
Speaker 3: back in college.
15:40
Speaker 2: And so it was just a lot of that kind
15:42
Speaker 2: of stuff.
15:42
Speaker 1: All right, Well, thank you for giving us the time.
15:45
Speaker 1: Appreciate it.
15:45
Speaker 4: Hey Jim, Hey everyone, thanks for joining me on the
16:06
Speaker 4: Get Real podcast. You know, I hope you feel a
16:08
Speaker 4: little healthier hanging out with me. You know, it's gonna
16:11
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Speaker 4: Please subscribe below, Please share. I'm excited not just to
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Speaker 4: talk about healthcare, but a lot of other fun topics.
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Speaker 4: It's about making healthy talk about healthcare.
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Speaker 1: It is not a lecture.
16:28
Speaker 2: This is supposed to be fun.
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Speaker 4: And look forward to spending more time with you in
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Speaker 4: the future.