Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Boddington's Heart Attack

Hoping for a speedy recovery. He's one of my favorite gun writers and would love to keep reading more from him.

I hope he makes a full recovery!
How old is Craig Boddington?
I could not find what year he was born?
AMRA

He's 58, two weeks older than I am.

Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery,
Hell man, there's critters to be shot

Hell i will be 60 in Sept, time will get us all. Never met the man but i do like his shows and magazine articles.

Hope he makes a full recovery. I have been reading his articles in Peterson's Hunting since he started writing. His writing is part of the reason I have made 4 trips to Africa.

Wishing Craig the best.
Prayers sent, God speed to a full recovery.

This is pretty much my story, too. Knew I had some problems. Went to get it checked several times. Every test came back clean. Took a nuclear stress test in Feb 2008. Cardiologist told me "You might die, but it won't be from a heart attack." One year later, almost to the day, after more problems that the doc kept saying were false, I finally failed an EKG. That lead to an angiogram that indicated a 95% blockage, a 90% blockage and a 45% blockage. The same cardiologist who told me I was clean a year before put four stents on two of the arteries. When I asked him about his mis-diagnosis he said that nothing short of the angiogram is effective in a sure diagnosis, even a nuclear stress test.

Being in good shape and eating right is important, but some of this disease is genetic.

My advice, get your self checked out.

Prayers sent for a speedy recovery for my favorite writer.

And only three years older than me. This hits too close to home.

He's in my thoughts.

Based on the skimpy info I have read he apparently used a commercial A/L to return to the states. If so, I wonder why he didn't use one of the emergency medical plans that use charter aircraft with medical help on board. With his money I would thing it would have been wise. Follow up heart attacks are quite common. Being macho with a heart attack is playing Russian Roulette. Only wish him the best.

I wondered the same thing.

Obviously none of my business but I'd sure like to know the rest of the story. 'Taint like it's a quick commuter flight across the pond!

Almost lost two friends due to heart attacks. One was having a routine physical with a cardiogram when a massive blockage was detected. Within a hour he was in bypass surgery at Duke Hospital. Another was on a cat hunt in BC chasing hounds on snowshoes when twice he couldn't breathe. When he returned home he was rushed to the hospital & has had numerous stints implanted. While having gall bladder surgery his heart began to beat erratically & the surgery was postponed. His mountain hunting & diving days are over. While his health has declined he has had no permanent heart damage.

Him being in good shape will help his recovery, if the damage wasn't too bad.

I had my first bypass surgery when I was 33 and in great shape, 5 arteries replaced. Second when I was 42, a slight heart attac this time, 4 arteries replaced. Third when I was 51. I'm now 66, no longer elgible for bypasses (no place to put them) or stents, just trying to beat the odds. I've always been aware of my own body and symptoms, or I'm sure the damage would have been great.

You eat Friskies? Man, you have 9 lives! Good for you and I hope I can dodge a bullet or two like that if they come my way!

Hope the best for him also. He is a gracious and good guy.

If he had used a medical ambulance form Africa to the US, it probably would have cost in the order of $50,000 or more for the flight, assuming it required a one way trip and then an empty return. This includes the plane, 2 pilots, a nurse or doctor, plus a flight attendant. Air ambulances are not cheap. I base this on arranging an air ambulance for a friend 30 years ago from San Francisco to New York - it cost $5,000 and this was because the plane had a paying patient for the return trip.

That's a lot of change. I don't know his financial situation, but it probably would have dented is wallet a bit!

From what I understand he did NOT know he'd had a heart attack when he left Africa. It was misdiagnosed by a hospital over there, but he felt so bad he decided to cut the trip short anyway. It was only diagnosed as a heart attack when he arrived back here.

At least he's back and hopefully on the mend!

This is from Craig, posted on AR:
First off: I'M GOING TO BE FINE! I'm home now, and probably will be for some time (which isn't really all that bad a thing.)
Second, and perhaps of greatest interest to all who have not had the experience of a "cardiovascular event" (uh, I definitely don't recommend it!), this came as a complete surprise, and in multiple ways. None of us are in as good shape as we can be, but I work out regularly and haven't completely lost the battle of the bulge. There is ZERO history of heart disease in my family. So I didn't see this coming. But that is largely my fault because I realize now I've had a couple of subtle warnings in the last few months. If you have such, please don't ignore them!

The "event" itself did not have classic symptoms. No chest pain, no pain in extremities. My buddy Bill Jones and I were in the final phase of a safari in Uganda, and it was a very hot midday when we got onto a really good Nile buffalo bull. We got him down and were dancing and celebrating when I felt the world go upside down...catastrophic loss of blood pressure, turned white as a sheet, had trouble breathing. I didn't go all the way out, so remember the event with a very odd detached calmness. Bill, PH Tony Moore, and cameraman Andy MacDonald poured water on me and in me. The symptoms were actually much more akin to acute heat exhaustion than a heart attack. I am not sensitive to heat, so this didn't make any more sense, but a heart attack didn't seem the most likely problem.
They got me cooled down, and after a while (as someone noted) I did indeed rally for both photos and video ("the show must go on," right?). I felt like [bleep], but definitely better.
We got back to camp and, with the last major animal secured, decided we would all head to Kampala. The big disconnect, if there was one, was that the International Hospital in Kampala diagnosed a pulmonary infection, gave me antibiotics, and sent me on my way. Honest, I couldn't disagree with that: I was having trouble breathing, but not really any chest pain, and both blood pressure and pulse were fine.
Fortunately flights were open and I was able to get out of there almost immediately. It was the longest flight of my life, and my situation was clearly deteriorating rapidly. When I got off the plane Donna took one look at me and got me to the emergency room. At that point things started happening very fast. It's amazing I survived the journey home, and the doctors seemed fairly confident I couldn't have lived through the night had I been stubborn and insisted on staying home.
We here in the United States enjoy many blessings. One of them, in my view, is the best health care in the entire world. I freely admit that my appearances in church are not as regular as perhaps they should be, but I can promise you I'll be there this Sunday, and I'll be including a great team of doctors, nurses, and technicians in my prayers...along with all of you.
Again, many thanks!
Craig Boddington