Discover How Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone Protects Her Heart

Discover How Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone Protects Her Heart

Discover How Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone Protects Her Heart

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Why Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone Watches Her Heart

At 26, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is a four-time Olympic gold medalist and world-record holder, and is considered among the best of all-time track and field athletes. But the impressive accomplishments didn’t shield her family from a genetic heart condition, one that affects her father specifically and eventually led to him receiving a heart transplant.

Diagnosed at age 25 with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, commonly referred to as HCM, Sydney’s father Willie McLaughlin is a former accomplished runner himself. In an effort to make people more aware of HCM, he and Sydney are partnering with biopharmaceutical company Cytokinetics for an initiative called On Track with HCM. According to Melissa Burroughs, MD, a cardiologist and expert in inherited cardiomyopathies who is associated with the campaign, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a genetic form of heart disease—and one that many people don’t realize they have. The condition—which is symptomless for many but can involve fatigue, dizziness, or palpitations, among other symptoms—is often genetic, which is why talking about family history and testing can be important and may help prevent further complications such as heart attack or stroke.

Dr. Burroughs says the first step of testing for HCM involves a blood test, though this method is limited because “only about 35% to 40% of patients who have been diagnosed with HCM will have a positive genetic test.” This is why heart ultrasounds can be another important tool to check for changes in heart wall thickness.

Ahead, Sydney and Willie share more about how this condition has affected them personally, how it’s shaped Sydney’s approach to her career, and what they want people to know about protecting their hearts.

The Healthy: Willie, major congratulations on celebrating five years post-heart transplant. How has this journey impacted your relationship with Sydney?

Willie McLaughlin: This journey really inspired me to get closer to my family. I was first diagnosed with HCM at age 25, and at that time I was an Olympic-caliber athlete. I didn’t expect to have heart disease such as HCM. “HCM” is short for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and it’s a heart disease that affects the heart muscle, causing the walls to thicken, and over time creating symptoms such as fatigue, shortness of breath, arrhythmia, which is an irregular heartbeat, and high blood pressure. I started to experience those symptoms 15 years after I was initially diagnosed with HCM, and it continually progressed to the point where, in my late 50s, I required a life-saving heart transplant. Through that process—and as I opened up and shared more about what I was going through with this disease—our family grew closer.

The Healthy: Sydney, can you talk about how your dad’s background in athletics influenced your career?

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone: My father’s career as a runner—and my mom—both of them were natural track junkies and influenced me and all my siblings to be runners. We are a very active family, and from a very young age, health and being fit were very natural and important to us all growing up.

Going through this journey with my dad and now having this opportunity to share about On Track with HCM has been very helpful. As athletes, we want to be perfect in whatever it is we do, and this is one of those areas that requires a lot of support and help in getting answers to questions.

Willie McLaughlin: We are so excited about being a part of On Track with HCM to bring awareness to the disease. One out of every 350 Americans suffer from HCM, and most go undiagnosed. To be able to share our story and the modules that take people through what our family experienced, we hope that it helps to inspire and encourage others, to let them know that they’re not alone.

The Healthy: The type of running you do must be very intense on the heart. Are there considerations you’ve had to make in your training and conditioning, given your dad’s experiences?

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone: I have yet to test myself for HCM, but it is something my dad and I have talked about quite a bit. It is on the top of my list to do, for me because I want to be aware, as an athlete, but ultimately just as a human being, of what’s going on with my body. If this is something that I am going to have to deal with at some point in my life, I want to be able to take the necessary steps and precautions and be as informed as possible. My dad’s done a great job of helping us kids be informed ourselves, about what he’s gone through so that we can look for signs.

The Healthy: What’s the most important thing you’ve learned about your health?

Willie McLaughlin: If you have HCM and the symptoms progress, the tendency is probably going to be to not want to do anything, to become dormant. In my opinion, that is quite the opposite of what you need to do—you need to be as active as possible, according to your doctor.

The Healthy: If you could pass along one message to people about caring for their hearts and overall wellbeing, what would it be?

Willie McLaughlin: The healthier you are, the better you are in terms of dealing with symptoms of HCM. We talk quite a bit about that in the video modules on the campaign website OnTrackWithHCM.com—the physical health, the mental health, and the support systems that also are so important when going through this journey.

I kept my diagnosis to myself for the first few years, I didn’t tell anyone, not even my girlfriend, who ultimately became my wife. It wasn’t until later in life when I realized my brothers had it that I started to open up and talk about it more. But you live this life in silence, thinking that you’re the only one who suffered from it. But HCM is a very common disease, and this program will help people understand there are so many others living with this disease. There are a lot of resources and advocacy groups that can help manage the day-to-day symptoms and the other aspects of it as well, the mental, the emotional, and the social aspects.

The Healthy: What’s one self-care habit you refuse to skip?

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone: Going for walks. Still being active but slowing down the pace a little bit and just getting out and enjoying nature. I still like to get my steps in but taking the time to just relax and decompress from the business of life, which adds so much stress to us without even knowing.

For daily wellness updates, subscribe to The Healthy newsletter and follow The Healthy on Facebook and Instagram. Keep reading:

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This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The post Why Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone Watches Her Heart appeared first on The Healthy.

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Hi, I’m Ciro Irmici, an entrepreneur and investor from San Severo, Italy. My passions range from investments (stocks, crypto, dividends) to automation and creating businesses that help people. I believe in building things that matter, like a gym for all and a theatre for people to enjoy music. I love learning and sharing what I learn: how to create eBooks, audiobooks, and other digital products. I’m also deeply into fitness (gym, running, jump rope) and creativity (painting, music, design). My ultimate goal? To reach financial freedom and help others achieve their dreams.

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