Danny's heart: College swimmer faces mortality
January 4, 2009 By MARTHA IRVINE , AP National Writer
Danny Thrall, 19, a sophomore on the swim team at Fordham University in New York, forms his hands in the shape of a heart over the scars from open heart surgery he had about six weeks earlier during workouts at a downtown Chicago health club Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2008. A routine physical in September revealed a problem with a valve in his heart that required the surgery. Six weeks later he is back in the pool and hopes to get back to competitive form. In January, he will return to Fordham and hopes to practice with his teammates, even if he can't compete this season. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
(AP) -- This time, when the lanky young man stepped into the pool, his chest was tight. His muscles ached. He pushed off to take his first strokes, and grimaced at the pain. That he was back in the pool just six weeks after open heart surgery was quite remarkable, but he was still a bit crestfallen. He could only swim a few hundred yards.
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