The Heart Of A Champion: In 2007 Yia Lee suffered a life threatening heart attack. Three years later, he wins a championship at July 4th!
With a reputation for his ferocious defensive skills on the soccer field, Yia Lee is known by the nickname, “Vulture”.
In this year’s July 4th men’s championship soccer game, Lee anchored the defense for “Twin Stars”, the legendary Minnesota team. Swarming to the ball and keeping attackers well covered, Lee’s play was pivotal in preventing California’s all-star team, “King United”, from scoring any goals in that thrilling championship game.
When the referee blew the final whistle indicating his team had taken the championship, the tall and athletic 37-year-old defender seemed to tower everybody on the field as he leapt in the air, emphatically pumping his fists in celebrating his first ever July 4th championship.
Embracing teammates and slapping high-fives with fans, Lee’s championship swagger was truly contagious. Snapping a photo of this moment in time, it would seem that Lee was on top of the world!
Yet, just three years ago, the picture of Lee’s life was much different. On an August morning, Lee woke up to excruciating pain in his chest. As he lay in bed squirming to get air in his lungs, he felt paralyzed to the thought that this would be his last day.
At the ripe age of 34 and at the height of his athletic prowess, Yia Lee suffered a life-threatening heart attack.
“At first it felt like a needle was poking at my lungs, then it got worse and worse,” Lee vividly recalled as he instinctively clutched at his chest. “At one point, it felt like somebody took a shovel and smacked my back. I could barely breathe and the pain was unreal.”
Once he arrived at the emergency room, doctors discovered that Lee was suffering a full-fledged heart attack.
“My entire life flashed before my eyes,” revealed Lee. “All I could think about was how I was going to leave my family, my two boys, my wife. It was unbelievable as I lay there in the hospital bed.”
With only moments to spare, the medical team at St. Joe’s performed an emergency angioplasty, which according to the National Heart and Lung Institute, “is a procedure used to open blocked or narrowed coronary (heart) arteries” with the use of a small tube called a catheter which is inserted into an artery. A microscopic ‘balloon’ at the end of this tube is inflated which expands the artery and “pushes the plaque against the artery wall, relieving the blockage and improving blood flow.”
The miracle of modern medicine was able to give Lee a second chance at life, and he hasn’t wasted a single moment.
“My thinking before was that because I was skinny and played lots of sports, I must have been healthy,” Lee imparts. “But the truth was that I ate fast-foods all the time, smoked cigarettes and basically ignored my health.”
Today, Lee says he doesn’t eat fatty foods, has quit smoking and eats lots of fruits and vegetables. So conscious of his health, he concedes that before eating any meat such as chicken, he even “cuts off the skin” before eating it.
To date, his cholesterol level and heart condition has become stable enough for him to play soccer at a high level.
Thrilled about this second chance at life, Lee doesn’t hesitate to share his story with the world. He has held fund-raisers and has participated in charity walks, all in the name of building awareness for heart disease and ways to avoid heart attacks.
“Even though you think you’re young and healthy, you should watch your health carefully and get things checked out early if you start to feel chest pains,” exclaims Lee. “If I can help to save somebody’s life by my example, that would be great.”