HEALTHY HEARTS
Change in the Weather
by Mark McEwen
I f you are of a certain age, you might know me. If
I covered three Winter Olympics - Albertville in France, Lillehammer in Norway, and Nagano in Japan, where I also ran with the Olympic Torch. That is definitely a moment I will never forget. That was my life for sixteen years. When that rumbled to a halt, I came to Orlando to anchor the morning and noon newscast for CBS affiliate Local 6. At the time, the mornings were in last place ratings-wise. After a year, we were in second place and occasionally first. And then I had my stroke. I’ll be honest, what I knew about strokes before I had one was zilch, nada. What I know now could fill a room. Let’s go back to yesteryear… In 2005, I had gone to Maryland to see my family and friends. I’m from Maryland. I had high blood pressure at the time but everyone I knew in the news media had high blood pressure, so I just thought that was part of the job. The day I had my stroke, it was at 30,000 feet on a jet coming home, and I had no idea what was going on. It was awful. I didn’t feel so good while I was in Maryland, so I had the wherewithal to have a sky cap waiting at MCO with a wheelchair. My stroke occurred mid-flight and no one knew. I didn’t even realize what was happening to me. I barely made it off the plane. My balance and equilibrium were a mess, and I bet you they thought I had been drinking. I hadn’t. The sky cap I reserved never said a word to me as he was wheeling me through the airport. I kept trying to call my wife on my cell phone, but my fingers didn’t work so well, and I just couldn’t press the numbers. He left me curbside by myself. I was dying. By the grace of God, I finally got through to her and said, “Help me. Not good.” She about lost her mind. She screamed, “Hand the phone to someone who can dial 911!” There was a guy in baggage claim who came out to smoke a cigarette. He saw me in the wheelchair and said, “Do you want me to take that phone?” He took the phone from me and called 911. He went on his way, and off I went in an ambulance. Oh, and by the way, he’s the reason I believe in angels because that random guy saved my life.
My stroke was bad. How bad? The stroke put me in a coma for two days, intensive care for a week, hospital for a month, and rehab for a year. I had to learn how to do everything again. I had to learn how to walk and talk again, how to eat, bathe, and get dressed. Rehab was five days a week, three hours per day. It was that bad. As part of my recovery, I wrote a book, Change In The Weather, talking about that whole ordeal and what I’ve learned post-stroke. As you age, you have to make the odds work in your favor as far as your health is concerned. I’ve lost fifty pounds. You’ll be surprised how just that one change can help keep the bugaboos at bay. I sparingly eat meat; I’m mostly vegan. I eat more fruit and vegetables, and less candy and sweets. I drink my coffee black now. I used to put creamer and Splenda in it. It took some getting used to, but guess what? Now it tastes too sweet if I fix it the way I used to. Now don’t think I eat nothing but healthy stuff because I don’t. If you told me I could never eat chocolate chip cookies again, I’d eat all I could find. The key is moderation. Also, exercise is key, and I’m not talking about joining a gym. If you can, good, but just go for a walk to raise your heart rate. Last time I checked, walking is free. All these changes make for a happy and healthy Mark. Walking around Publix, I see people who are overweight, and they’re smoking. Not good. Being heavy itself opens the doors for bad things. The name of the game is to be here as long as you can, and the changes I’ve made help me to do just that. Since recovering from my stroke, I’ve done a TED Talk and have been back on television hosting All Things Men (formerly on the Black News Channel). I speak around the country and have even spoken in Canada for their March of Dimes. Recently, I had the pleasure of being on Point of View with Monica May on Star 94.5 FM. Hi Monica! I say when life knocks you down, you don’t have to get up and get back in the fray. All you have to do is get back up. But don’t give up. FEBRUARY IS AMERICAN HEART HEALTH MONTH
you’re not, let me introduce myself. My name is Mark McEwen, radio show host, TV personality, stroke survivor, and stroke awareness advocate. In the 1970’s & 80’s, I was a DJ on the radio in Baltimore, Detroit, Chicago, and New York. I was playing what people today call classic rock. But back then, we just called it rock and roll. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love Al Green, Aretha Franklin, the O’Jays, Whitney Houston, Earth Wind and Fire, and more. I’m old school, but I just happened to really like crunchy rock and roll. I made the jump to national television when I got to New York. I actually got fired in radio twice there, and the second time, the station called and said a producer for CBS reached out to give me his number. I was thinking this producer was calling from WCBS, which was an oldies station, and I didn’t want to play oldies music, but I didn’t have a job, so I made the call. In our conversation, he said something that changed everything... “And since we’re going up against GMA and the Today show…” I interrupted him and said, “Hold on. Is this television?” He replied...“Yeah. Interested?” To which I replied...“Yeah!” I had one audition and passed it. This was my first job in television, and it was on CBS This Morning with Bryant Gumbel, Kathleen Sullivan, Harry Smith, and Paula Zahn. I was initially hired as the weatherman and eventually became the entertainment reporter as well. I covered everything from the Oscars, the Grammys, and the Country Music Awards, to the Golden Globes and the Emmys. Those were some good times. I got to interview people like Denzel Washington, Tony Bennett, Muhammed Ali, David Bowie, Whoopi Goldberg, Beyonce, Garth Brooks, George Harrison, Colin Powell and so many others. I even interviewed five presidents-Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton.
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