duncan228
10-08-2008, 10:58 PM
Doctor's blood-pressure warning gives ‘Iceman' chills (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Doctors_blood-pressure_warning_gives_Iceman_chills.html)
Mike Monroe - Express-News
There is a 10-year-old in San Antonio who brags that he has a jumper as sweet as George “The Iceman” Gervin's.
Jyael Gervin has the genes, so why not?
“He talks all the time that his ‘J' is just like Granddad's,” the real-life Iceman said Wednesday morning. “I'd like to live long enough to find out if he's right.”
Gervin is just 56, but he got a fright this summer when he discovered his blood pressure was alarmingly high. After putting off a routine physical exam for years, his wife, Joyce, finally goaded him to the doctor's office.
What Gervin learned there was simple: Unless he addressed his hypertension, he might not live long enough to see Jyael play high school or college ball.
Even when you've posed on a throne made of ice for the coolest poster in basketball history, you can't hide the fear when a doctor's advice is to revise how you're living or risk dying before your time.
It is hard to believe, but it has been 34 years since Gervin came to San Antonio to play for the Spurs. He became the first face of the franchise, the rail-thin swingman with the sweet jumper and an unstoppable finger roll. He is the only Spurs player in the hall of fame.
He played at 185 pounds, recalling Wednesday that Bob Bass made him a guard because he was too skinny to handle the rough-and-tumble in the paint.
He still looks trim, but in a conference room at University Center for Community Health, Gervin said his weight had crept up to 245. With a family history of hypertension, he knows he was foolish to think he was immune.
Elite athletes sometimes get the false notion they are super-human, immune from the routine maladies that afflict those who aren't gifted with atypical physical skill. Diseases, though, don't recognize superstars.
“After I stopped playing I stopped getting physicals,” he said. “Thank God for my lovely wife, Joyce. She kept saying, ‘You haven't had a physical for a while. When are you going to do it?”
Gervin knew from the look on a nurse's face that his blood pressure was abnormal.
“She took it on my left arm,” he said, “and then she gave me a look. Then she took it on the other arm. She said, ‘George, you've got hypertension.'”
Dr. Gregory Johnson told Gervin he immediately needed to begin a medication regimen.
“I said, ‘Doc, you know I don't like to take medication.'”
That's when Johnson gave him a dose of reality. He explained to Gervin that hypertension is the “silent killer.” The doctor also said if he were too stubborn to take medications he would die.
That got Gervin's attention; now he takes his meds. Just as importantly, he gets up early each day and heads to the gym, where he does at least 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise on a treadmill or an elliptical stepper.
He also eats healthy. No more fried food. More fresh vegetables and fruit. He is on his way to manageable blood pressure.
And he is spreading the word.
On Saturday, Gervin will be at the H-E-B Health Expo at Freeman Coliseum, telling about his own experience with hypertension and encouraging all attendees to avail themselves of the free health screenings offered at the Expo, including free blood-pressure screenings.
The Expo runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Everything about the Expo is free, and H-E-B is even providing free transportation from locations all over the city.
“It doesn't cost you anything but time,” Gervin said, “and it will be time used wisely if you just come to this Expo.”
Maybe the Iceman can even talk Jyael into coming to the Expo to show off his jumper.
Mike Monroe - Express-News
There is a 10-year-old in San Antonio who brags that he has a jumper as sweet as George “The Iceman” Gervin's.
Jyael Gervin has the genes, so why not?
“He talks all the time that his ‘J' is just like Granddad's,” the real-life Iceman said Wednesday morning. “I'd like to live long enough to find out if he's right.”
Gervin is just 56, but he got a fright this summer when he discovered his blood pressure was alarmingly high. After putting off a routine physical exam for years, his wife, Joyce, finally goaded him to the doctor's office.
What Gervin learned there was simple: Unless he addressed his hypertension, he might not live long enough to see Jyael play high school or college ball.
Even when you've posed on a throne made of ice for the coolest poster in basketball history, you can't hide the fear when a doctor's advice is to revise how you're living or risk dying before your time.
It is hard to believe, but it has been 34 years since Gervin came to San Antonio to play for the Spurs. He became the first face of the franchise, the rail-thin swingman with the sweet jumper and an unstoppable finger roll. He is the only Spurs player in the hall of fame.
He played at 185 pounds, recalling Wednesday that Bob Bass made him a guard because he was too skinny to handle the rough-and-tumble in the paint.
He still looks trim, but in a conference room at University Center for Community Health, Gervin said his weight had crept up to 245. With a family history of hypertension, he knows he was foolish to think he was immune.
Elite athletes sometimes get the false notion they are super-human, immune from the routine maladies that afflict those who aren't gifted with atypical physical skill. Diseases, though, don't recognize superstars.
“After I stopped playing I stopped getting physicals,” he said. “Thank God for my lovely wife, Joyce. She kept saying, ‘You haven't had a physical for a while. When are you going to do it?”
Gervin knew from the look on a nurse's face that his blood pressure was abnormal.
“She took it on my left arm,” he said, “and then she gave me a look. Then she took it on the other arm. She said, ‘George, you've got hypertension.'”
Dr. Gregory Johnson told Gervin he immediately needed to begin a medication regimen.
“I said, ‘Doc, you know I don't like to take medication.'”
That's when Johnson gave him a dose of reality. He explained to Gervin that hypertension is the “silent killer.” The doctor also said if he were too stubborn to take medications he would die.
That got Gervin's attention; now he takes his meds. Just as importantly, he gets up early each day and heads to the gym, where he does at least 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise on a treadmill or an elliptical stepper.
He also eats healthy. No more fried food. More fresh vegetables and fruit. He is on his way to manageable blood pressure.
And he is spreading the word.
On Saturday, Gervin will be at the H-E-B Health Expo at Freeman Coliseum, telling about his own experience with hypertension and encouraging all attendees to avail themselves of the free health screenings offered at the Expo, including free blood-pressure screenings.
The Expo runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Everything about the Expo is free, and H-E-B is even providing free transportation from locations all over the city.
“It doesn't cost you anything but time,” Gervin said, “and it will be time used wisely if you just come to this Expo.”
Maybe the Iceman can even talk Jyael into coming to the Expo to show off his jumper.