“I wanted so much for my father to be inspired by my health success and realize he could experience the same, but he wasn’t willing to change,” said Young, who no longer requires prescription medication. “I want to inspire others to change their life so that they can avoid what I went through.”
Young is sharing his story through the American Heart Association’s Support Network. As an AHA Heart Failure Ambassador, he also spoke about his experience to doctors and researchers last fall at the AHA’s annual Scientific Sessions in New Orleans.
“It’s important to engage doctors on all these issues so that they can better work with patients to get at the root causes of the issues and better motivate them toward recovery,” he said.
“Doctors always asked how I was feeling physically, but not how I was feeling emotionally. I had to figure out what was eating me, before I could deal with what I was eating.”