VIDEO: New York and Nashville researchers studied blood cell mutations in 9/11 first responders and determined some cells were cloning out of control and causing cardiovascular disease.
Thanks to this research, an exercise fanatic discovered he had underlying and extensive heart disease.
Roger Grad exercises 90 minutes a day, five days a week.
“My doctor told me ’you look like you’re in absolutely perfect physical shape, perfect health, and you should be dead,’” said Grad. Doctor Michael Savona, director of hematologic research at Vanderbilt University, suspected cardiovascular disease, but standard tests showed nothing. However, he had studied the blood of 9/11 responders to see how certain genetic mutations could trigger cardiovascular disease by replicating out of control.
“I looked at some genetic screening and found mutations in his blood cells,” said Savona.