14 NOVEMBER 30-DECEMBER 6, 2023 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | LETTERS | CONTENTS | river barriers in the globe’s most polluted urban regions, designed to keep plastics from ever reaching the ocean. In addition to all those things, he hoped to inspire others to take on challenges that pushed “you to become someone else to meet them.” The trip to Australia would again expose him to massive waves, tropical storms and things he couldn’t anticipate or imagine until they happened. Because of global warming, the oceans were hotter than ever, and with El Niño expected to be in full effect, he’d face many days over 100 degrees. If he completed the row, it would be a “world fi rst” for the Guinness World Records. He’d need to be in the best shape of his life. He began training. On July 13, 2022, the trim, lightly bearded, well-muscled 34-year-old with a large tattoo spread across his left shoulder awoke to some- thing new. After working out that morning, his chest started to tighten and ache. He sat down, drank a glass of water and waited for the pain to subside, but it got worse: Was his torso caving in? He dropped to the fl oor, rolling from side to side, still thinking this would pass. For nearly an hour, blood fl ow was cut off to his heart and cardiac tissue was dying. When he fi nally realized he was having a heart attack, he called a friend who drove him to Boulder’s Foothills Hospital. For the next 48 hours, he was in the advanced cardiac care unit. After two days, the doctors were ready to discharge him, but with strict warnings. Recovering from the heart attack, his cardiologist told him, would be “the hardest thing you’ve ever done, harder than rowing across an ocean.” Tez’s very active physical life was com- pletely shut down. For years, he’d emotionally processed his setbacks using exercise to get through stress and pain. If he exerted himself now, the doctor said, the increased blood pressure could tear open the damage inside his chest and kill him. His heart needed to rest. He went home enraged, asking himself all the questions that come with serious illness: Why did this happen? Why did it happen now, when he was doing so many things he loved? And when he was in such good shape? People had constantly told him he was the healthiest person they knew. When the anger subsided and the questions stopped, he delved into sta- tistics: Thirty-six percent of men who survive heart attacks don’t live through the next year. Other studies showed that 50 percent of men die within fi ve years. Mulling the numbers, he went into seclusion, declining all social invitations and informing close friends that he was in recovery and needed to be alone. He’d also decided not to inform his mother on the East Coast about his medical crisis just then because he didn’t want to cause her stress. He later wrote, “I didn’t want to hang out with anybody or even be seen. I felt like since I was so down, I shouldn’t go to events or see friends, because I’m not adding to the vibe. Many of us are our own harshest critics and treat ourselves differently than we treat oth- ers, and this summer reminded me of that. I want to see and support my friends while they go through challenging times, and it’s up to me to allow my friends to do the same for me.” When he felt able to hide the sadness in his voice, he called his mother, but she didn’t answer. Over the past few days, she’d passed away in her apartment. He was stunned, crushed again over the loss of a parent, needing to come to terms with her death as he’d done six years earlier with his father’s. He had to get back to exercising, even if it involved risk. On September 18, just over two months after entering the hospital, he went on a three-mile hike in the woods near Neder- land. Afterward, he felt better physically and mentally. In the coming days, he walked farther and then farther still. By October, he was fl y fi shing and running country roads. After a follow-up MRI and other tests, his doctor said he could resume training. He increased the running and planned to an- nounce the Hawaii-to-Australia expedition in late 2022, but rescheduled it for 2023. Once he began regaining his strength, he put a positive spin on his recent medical scare. “Instead of seeing the heart attack as something that happened to me,” he wrote, “I am starting to see how it can be a value for me — providing useful stories and insights to empower others…” He kept pushing himself to get into shape. In every case when something bad happened to Tez or those around him — his depression after college, his father’s suicide, his fail- ure to raise the funds Testing the Waters continued from page 12 continued on page 16 Steinberg shares life lessons in his “Tez Talks.” UNITEDWORLDCHALLENGE.ORG AURORA | WESTMINSTER | BOULDER | COLORADO SPRINGS | PARK MEADOWS | LITTLETON | FRISCO ......... ......... FOR A LIMITED TIME NOV 24-DEC 10 ONLY ................................................................. *7062311072* *Terms & Conditions: Offer valid November 24, 2023 – December 10, 2023 in-store at Epic Mountain Gear stores only. Must present coupon/barcode at time of purchase to redeem. Offer not valid on any other offer or past purchases. Limited to one coupon per eligible customer for a one-time use only. Not valid on Tune & Wax services, Bike services, special orders, Epic Pass products, Junior Trade, Employee Discount purchases, or Gift Card purchases. Excludes GoPro and BOA Ski Boots. 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