The best storytelling is about tigers and mushrooms

“You had a heart attack,” the doctor said.

“What? Are you sure??”

“Yes. To be exact, you had 5 heart attacks.” 

😳

My best friend’s dad is skiing for a week, but on the second day he feels a stomachache, and takes a day off. 

When he goes back to the slopes, he feels it again, ends the trip early and goes back home. 

He gets checked out and finds out about the heart attacks. 

“But how did that happen? My routine exams were absolutely fine a few months ago, I eat well, I exercise…”

He’s in his early 60s, so this feels really surprising. 

Once they check him out more thoroughly, they find out his arteries have more fat in them than a deep-fried Mars bar. 

The doctor tells him, 

“Some people have a genetic disposition to build arterial plaque, and that’s not picked up by conventional exams.”

“So what happens now?”

“We’ll do a procedure to remove the plaque, then you’ll have to keep looking after yourself and take some meds to minimise the danger, but we’ll likely have to intervene again every few years. For the rest of your life.”

I heard this story a few years back, and it stuck with me. 

Not only because it happened to someone I care about, but also because it was the answer to a mystery: why do some people who look perfectly healthy have heart attacks and die young? 

Then last year I read a book on longevity, and they mentioned some new exams that were able to pick up this genetic issue long before it became a problem. 

Remembering my friend’s dad, I managed to convince my doctor to test me for it. 

It turns out… 

I have it too.

I guess I should think twice about any ski trips from now on 😅

Tigers and Mushrooms

The reason evolution has wired our brains for storytelling thousands of years ago is because the best stories do one of two things: 

• They help us survive 

“Yesterday I was walking on that patch of forest just behind the lake and I stumbled upon a sabre-tooth tiger den! The tiger mom came after me and I almost didn’t make it out alive, don’t go anywhere near there!”

• Or thrive 

“This morning I was walking in the woods and saw some mushrooms I’d never seen before, so I ate them. The last few hours were… interesting. I strongly recommend you give them a try.”

Any story that might save your life, or improve it, is one you’re bound to pay attention to and remember.

Had I never heard the story above, would the information on that book have moved me to action? Maybe. But I don’t think so. 

If right now you’re wondering if you have this genetic issue too, and what exam you need to be asking your doctor, I’m pretty sure it was the story that did it, and not just the science. 

Storytelling probably didn’t need any more selling points… 

But it doesn’t get any better than saving lives🤘

-Francisco 

PS. The exam I asked for was a regular blood panel, the one you get to check your cholesterol, but I asked them to also look for lipoprotein-A. That’s it.  

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