If you haven’t heard the story of CT Fletcher, you're in for a treat. After reading this, visit YouTube and enter his name in the search bar. You'll hear a bunch of curse words, but you'll also hear the story of a warrior who clawed his way back from the dead, literally.
CT Fletcher was a world-champion powerlifter in his younger years. He lifted like a beast, but he also ate one of the unhealthiest diets ever, consisting of the same meal every day at McDonald’s for over 20 years: four Big Macs, four orders of fries, two milkshakes, and four personal-size apple pies—a lunch that topped 5,000 calories. Not surprisingly, emergency open-heart surgery ensued.
He nearly died a few times, so now things are different. Now, at age 61, Fletcher is a lean 235 pounds at 5'11", down from 300-plus during his powerlifting days. He may be slimmer, but his stretch, his tenacity and his self-proclaimed obsession with being great is still there.
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He lost it for a little while, but now he found it and he's back. And we're so glad he is.
"I first started having heart problems when I was training for that contest—that the doctors told me about anyway," Fletcher explains to Bodybuilding.com. "They told me that my heart was enlarged—they actually told me the day before that competition. I told them what I was going to try to do, and they said the strain of that much weight could cause my aortic valve to rupture. They said: 'No repairing it. If it ruptures, you are going to die. And are you still planning on competing?'"
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"They thought I was crazy, but I thought that was a crazy question for them to ask me. They were looking at me like, 'Do you understand what we're telling you, Mr. Fletcher? You can die!'"
Fletcher understood it all too well. Having medically died on the operating table three times. But he went out and competed the next day anyway.
“35 years of lifting weights and open heart surgery. Dying three times on the operating table. CT. So, you should sit down, sir, because of your diagnosis and don’t do a damn thing. Bullshit. Hell, no.
“Every time I go to the doctor, they tell me what I shouldn’t be doing. And what I should be doing. And what I won’t do. And what I can’t do. And after that, I go out the door and do whatever the fuck I want to do. And, I’m gonna do that until they throw dirt on top of me. This is my life. And I choose to live it the way I want to.
On an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, he revealed that he had suffered another heart attack in June 2017, and was hoping to get on the waiting list for a heart transplant. On May 5, 2018, he announced via Twitter that a heart had been found for him. The next day, he underwent a heart transplant surgery that lasted for over 11 hours.
Now, he's back and better than ever. Still inspiring, still lifting nd still doing what was thought to be impossible.
“It’s impossible. I’ve heard that so many times. It’s just impossible. It can’t be done. It is impossible until some crazy son-of-a-bitch has the audacity to believe that no matter what the expert or the doctor says, I can still do that shit. Will is the key. Will. Willpower. Any time that you give your best effort, that you give everything that you possibly can give, there is satisfaction in knowing that I did my absolute best. I did all I could do. There’s victory in that. There is satisfaction. Remember what you are. Remember what you are. Remember who the fuck you are. All right. I’m through.”
"I was in a funk, I was down. So I went to the doctor and he said 'Mr. Fletcher, I heard you were a world champion weight lifter.' And he looked down at me with pity and disdain and said, 'What happened to you.'"
"He started a fire within me that couldn't be stopped. When somebody like that tells me that I can't do something,...
..you better watch out! Oh boy. Not me. Not I. You have chosen the wrong one who to tell that to. I will show you what I can do. I will show you that I can do anything.
"Let the 'I cants' of the world, fuel your fire."
"One of the things I'm proudest of is a failed attempt with 705 pounds in my last competition," admits Fletcher. "It was raw and drug-free, and I'm proud of that because it was the biggest stage with the best bench pressers in the world, all gathered together for an invitation-only contest. I showed up, and instead of going for a safe amount that I know I could do, I called for what then was the world record."
Just in case you were wondering, CT Fletcher's signature phrase in and out of the gym is the acronymn he wears on many of his t-shirts and hats that says, "ISYMFS." That stand for, "It's still your mutha f---- set." LOL!
He doesn't quit, and neither should you.
