2 months after heart surgery, Pinoy to run in Dubai marathon

Feeling young again after undergoing heart surgery, a 48-year-old Filipino will be running 10 kilometers in a marathon in the United Arab Emirates this week.

After undergoing five coronary bypass grafts last November, Alfonso Ponio will take part in the Dubai marathon on Jan. 23, Gulf News reported.

“I registered because I feel young again. I have a brand new heart. I want to tell people that with correct surgery, good diet and strong determination anything is possible,” said Ponio.

He said he built his stamina so he can run up to 30 km.

Before the surgery, Ponio could not even walk 50 meters without feeling pain, the report said.

Ponio underwent surgery at the NMC Speciality Hospital last Nov. 12 last year. Earlier this week, he cleared a treadmill test.

Since then, he has also adopted a healthy diet involving fresh fruits and vegetables, little rice and fish or chicken in light olive oil.

Dr. Girish Chandra Varma, who performed the surgery, said Ponio is one of the first of his patients in Dubai to take part in a marathon "in over two months of receiving five coronary grafts."

Varma said that before the surgery, Ponio "had multiple blocks and he was very sick and symptomatic."

"We used the internal mammary arteries and saphenous veins as conduits for the new channels,” said Varma. —Joel Locsin/KBK, GMA News

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