Basketball Coach Uses Second Chance at Life to Talk About Heart Health

WARNER ROBINS, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – We’ve heard of heart attacks and how they usually start with chest pains or shortness of breath.  But one Warner Robins man didn’t have the usual symptoms of heart disease.  If he didn’t listen to his body there’s a chance he wouldn’t be here today.

“I just felt bad,” said Chip Malone, Warner Robins.

Former Warner Robins High School basketball coach, Chip Malone, was the picture athlete.  He was healthy and strong and young at heart.  When he wasn’t feeling like himself coach took it upon himself to get checked out.

“The pressures of coaching, the self-induced pressure yan know I put a lot of pressure on myself to win and I think after 32 years of that I think it just took its toll on me,” said Malone.

What Coach Malone thought was a check-up, changed his life forever.  He ended up going in for a heart transplant in November 2010.

“Coach is a miracle,” said Dr. Mark Dorogy, Cardiologist.