Anybody heard anymore about Craig Boddington? Is he still in Africa or back in the States? He and I are just days apart in age.....certainly a wake-up call for all of us, especially those of us on the wrong side of 50.
Geez I hope he is OK....!
First I heard of it....
All my best wishes to Craig.I've enjoyed his stuff for as long as I can remember.
I read that he is back in the states.
Good to hear he is on the right side of the sheets. Too much fight in that guy to leave us yet.
Sorry to here this. Craig is one of the few writers I trust. JB is the other.
Damn, I was thinking about resurrecting that old thread again that he had made in about 2000, hoping to snag a few suckers.
I think I'll refrain.
Hope he's OK.
I heard about through the Facebook post yesterday, but info had been skimpy until Donna started posting in various places as well.
One good aspect of all this is that Craig is always in really good shape, which helps enormously when something like this happens. Many of his friends are somewhat mystified that it could happen at all, but heart attacks sometimes don't conform to the standard pattern. Knowing him pretty well, I have no doubt he will be hunting hard in the near future.
All my best wishes to Craig.I've enjoyed his stuff for as long as I can remember.
No doubt.
I will keep CB in my prayers.
I hope he gets over it fast and gets back to hunting.
Best wishes to him and his family.
The last thing I thought would fail was Craig's heart. He's always had a strong and brave one, and I did not expect it to fail him.
My prayers, and hopes are with him.
And his bravery has never been in doubt.
Steve
Time for all of us to man up and get regular check ups. I know I haven't and I think I am Superman racing dirt bikes. NOT.
The outside body can make you look good or bad, but it is the inside that will kill you. Heart Problems, been there and done that. He is strong and he will do well unless he had major damage to the heart muscle . Hope he has a speedy recovery
Stay in the fight General!
Wow, this is some shocking news. My thoughts and prayers go out to Craig and his family.
I had one when I was 48 years old. I'm 56 now. I had a stent placed and found that my heart arteries are wound backwards. About 8% are, if I remember correctly. I was 168 lbs @ 5'8" and still had sixpack abs. I was benching 320 lbs at the time. I had very little body fat...no gut at all. Mine was due to being a hard core type A and the stress of being a work-a-holic caught up with me. Oh yeah, I've had Lyme's Disease for 21 years too. I don't sweat stuff much anymore. I have had to learn to tone down things, and take it a lot easier. I never was superstitious, but it happened on the 13th of December. I was getting dressed to go deer hunting at 4:20 am when it hit me.
I'll keep Craig in my prayers...I enjoy his skills.
Just a note: Craig has always liked to work very, very hard--which may be obvious. But I saw it as somebody who worked for him for a number of years, back when he was editor of Petersen's Hunting.
A couple of years ago, I had one artery 100% blocked and one at 95%. By the grace of God a good cardiologist got to me before the heart attack occurred. It was too close, though. 3 stents and some serious diet modification and meds later, and I'm rockin' and rollin'.
Take note - in as bad a shape as I was, I passed a stress test. Just because you pass a stress test doesn't mean you're not in danger. A heart CT scan showed the calcified plaque deposits in my arteries, and helped convince the doc to do my angiogram TODAY! Good thing he did - I was feeling worse as the day wore on.
The angiogram is the gold standard of detection, but a heart CT scan may convince your doc that you need the angiogram. If you're over 40 don't ignore this. A very close friend of mine my age didn't get checked and just had a major heart attack. The crack-open-the-chest-and-perform-heart-massage kind. Take this seriously - lotsa guys in their 40s are having heart attacks these days, and in the 50s it's a real problem.
I've never had the pleasure of meeting him but I've heard that's he's a good guy to talk too.
I consider him one of the top two or three gun writers currently out there and hope he can get back to 100%.
I know we would all like him back to work so we can read his writings but I know he's far far more important to his family, best wishes to them and for a speedy recovery....................DJ
best wishes! hang in there, we need our best hunting buddy, who else makes us feel like we are with him when he wrights his stories? god bless!
Ignored the Angina attacks for some 15 years after the first one. A stress test took me to a 3xBypass a week later, saved my life. I m now almost 66 and have done 4500 logged miles on my bicycle in the last 21 months. Two great stress tests in the interim with the Doc saying my heart function is like I never had a bypass. I had a 100% blockage of the Widow Maker and a collateral artery that had done its own bypass was 60% blocked. The collateral artery was the only thing that got me thru those 15 years. Not rare I was told, but it does happen. Don't take chances like I did.
Buzz Gillis
I've had two stents put in that prevented a heart attack. And that is only because I had some early warning signs, and I reacted to them.
Craig is a lot tougher guy than I am, and he probably did not have the early warning signs.
But if I had to bet on anybody, it would be Craig.
I've met and talked to him a few times at SHOT, and he was gracious and generous.
My prayers, and bets, are with him.
Steve
Best wishes to Craig a great writer and Marine, also a fellow southpaw.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Craig Boddiington.
JD338
I really like to read his stuff and think he is a good guy. I wish him all the best and know what he is going thru. It changes Your life, You look at things differently. Craig get better.
Wishing Craig a speedy recovery!
First I'd heard that he had a heart attack - certainly bad news, and of coarse I'm wishing all the best for him, and his family.
I've read, and watched countless hours of his work, and hope to benefit as much in the future as I have in the past from his work.
I consider his writing (and broadcasts) about Africa as excellent, and hold them dear - because it's as close as I'm likely to get to that type of hunting.
Get well soon Craig.
An inspiration to us all.... God bless Craig and his family!!
I sure hope all is well with him, and he makes a full recovery.
He brings Class to our sport.
Prayers sent to Craig and his family.
I had a full cardiac work up done about 2 years ago, and I'm 51 now. I had a nuclear stress test done because the cardiologist suspected a blockage (long story leading up to that). End result was no blockages and the echo-cardiagram showed everything was within the normal parameters.
prayers to him and his, hopin he bounces back strong, would wager that he will
diet might get, me, stress??? maybe, but I've read enough here to know that hard work seems like a cause
so I'm cutting that chit out for evermore!
though there's an argument to be made I already did about 10 years ago
Just a note: Craig has always liked to work very, very hard--which may be obvious. But I saw it as somebody who worked for him for a number of years, back when he was editor of Petersen's Hunting.
He and I were 2nd Lt.s together at Quantico and later at Pendleton. During the Basic School, after a long week of crawling thru the woods on our bellys most of us would "crash" on the weekends; Craig would go deer hunting!!
Six years later when he was in charge of the Specialty Books Division of Peterson, I wrote a few pieces for him--he had maintained that same work ethic.
Thirty years later, I'm the one that's put on 80 lbs. and lives a sedate life style while he's maintained the vigor of his youth. Yet a quirk of Karma, he's the one that had the heart attack. He's a special breed and will be living life in ftontal assault mode soon.
Best wishes to Craig and family...We met several years ago at SCI. You were and still a gentleman.
Prayers for you Mr. Boddington......
All the best to a great outdoor writer.
Prayers on the way for a speedy recovery.
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.
A couple of years ago, I had one artery 100% blocked and one at 95%. By the grace of God a good cardiologist got to me before the heart attack occurred. It was too close, though. 3 stents and some serious diet modification and meds later, and I'm rockin' and rollin'.
Take note - in as bad a shape as I was, I passed a stress test. Just because you pass a stress test doesn't mean you're not in danger. A heart CT scan showed the calcified plaque deposits in my arteries, and helped convince the doc to do my angiogram TODAY! Good thing he did - I was feeling worse as the day wore on.
The angiogram is the gold standard of detection, but a heart CT scan may convince your doc that you need the angiogram. If you're over 40 don't ignore this. A very close friend of mine my age didn't get checked and just had a major heart attack. The crack-open-the-chest-and-perform-heart-massage kind. Take this seriously - lotsa guys in their 40s are having heart attacks these days, and in the 50s it's a real problem.
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.
He's 58, two weeks older than I am.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Thanks for the linked post. Good to read he is home and on the mend. Kudos to US health care abilities............for now...
My best wishes to Craig for a speedy recovery. He has always been one of my favorite writers and I have had the pleasure of chatting with him the last two years at the SCI in Reno. I know that this is his "business" but it is also, clearly, his passion.
I'm on the north side of 58 and maybe this is a good wake up call to see a good cardiologist. I'm not sure that checking out while doing something that you love to do is a bad thing, but 58 or 61, like me, is a little too soon.
Good Luck Mr. Boddington!
I received an email from Craig over the weekend. He said that he's feeling better every day, but the "event" sure came as a surprise to him. Glad he's feeling the improvement.
A thumbs up to Craig.Unfortunately,been their done that..
From the Salmon River off my Droid X/Wilson Power Booster and Yagi anntenna
Jayco
Just saw this thread. Glad Craig's coming along. You can do a lot towards prevention but, if you're slated for a MI, it's gonna happen regardless. The trick is to stay in shape so the recuperation is quicker and long term effects are minimized. My karate instructor had his MI at age 56. He's 67 now, and you definitely do not want him to hit you. Best wishes, Craig.