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the tinley junction | February 7, 2019 | 5
Tinley man with chronic health issues
survives scare thanks to two strangers
Will O’Brien
Freelance Reporter
Tinley Park resident Rob
Besecker, a motivational
speaker who climbed Mount
Everest four years after having
five cardiac surgeries,
regularly preaches the importance
of helping, and accepting
help from, others.
The lesson came to life
during a routine workout in
early January, when Besecker
suffered a serious health
scare at the Life Time Fitness
in Orland Park but pulled
through thanks in part to two
strangers and local emergency
responders.
“The way they handled the
situation was just incredible,”
Besecker said. “There’s a
million ways a situation like
this could go, and they just
stepped right up. Definitely
went above and beyond.”
It was during college when
Besecker, a Hickory Hills
native who grew up playing
several team sports, first noticed
he wasn’t feeling quite
right. Years after graduation
he finally got a diagnosis —
muscular dystrophy and several
chronic heart conditions
that had developed.
A goals-oriented optimist
by nature, he tackled the issues
head-on, forging forward
with a career that’s included
roles at United Technologies
Corporation, Merck & Co.,
and for the past decade Advocate
Christ Medical Center,
where he trains health care
professionals about hospice
and end-of-life care.
However, 2011 was a lifechanging
year.
Besecker endured five
surgeries, seven emergency
room visits and a collapsed
lung. The outlook, his doctors
and some close friends
told him, was grim. Besecker,
shaken but undeterred,
fought on with all his might,
gradually recovering — and
then some.
In 2015, after years of hard
training, including long sessions
at Life Time, he hiked
to the base camp of Mount
Everest. In 2017, he wrote
the book, “Everest Strong:
Reaching New Heights with
Chronic Illness.”
“I’ve always been the type
of person who wanted to live
life to the fullest,” he said.
“We need to take advantage
of our time the best way we
can.”
Besecker continues to
spread the book’s messages
about overcoming odds and
pursuing dreams as a speaker
and through social media.
But on Jan. 9, it was others
who helped him.
Besecker, having finished
the bulk of his workout,
headed to a StairMaster machine
to wrap things up. He
felt some irregular heartbeats
but wasn’t alarmed.
“For the most part, I always
try to just work through
that.
“I started feeling really, really,
really uncomfortable,”
he said of being 27 minutes
into his workout.
His chest erupted with
electricity and he fell backwards
off the machine. His
internal defibrillator — he’s
had it and a pacemaker for
years — had fired because his
heart rate had soared.
Larry Blatt, a gym regular
on a nearby machine, reacted
right away.
“He immediately came
over to me and gave me attention,”
Besecker said.
For Blatt, who said Besecker
remained calm throughout
the episode despite its obvious
severity, it was a surreal
experience in which he just
did what felt natural and
stood by Besecker’s side until
paramedics arrived.
“You could just tell there
was something special about
the guy,” Blatt said, recalling
how the young and fitter-than-average
Besecker
calmly called his doctor to
explain what was happening,
asked Blatt to retrieve his belongings
from locker 162 and
started calling Blatt by name
immediately as they handled
the situation together.
Jason Fox, general manager
of the gym, was also
swiftly on the scene, taking
control of the situation,
ensuring help was en route,
and maintaining calm order
in the facility, Besecker said.
Dan Fagan and Matt Hoover,
of the Orland Fire Protection
District, also played
important roles, making sure
Besecker got to his hospital
of choice, Advocate Christ.
Orland Fire has previously
recognized Fox and fellow
Life Time employees for
deftly handling health emergencies.
In May, the staff
helped gym member Mike
Sanocki survive a cardiac arrest.
Besecker has been in recovery
mode since, meeting
with doctors, changing
prescriptions and considering
surgical steps to put off
further issues. But he’s also
made time to visit Blatt and
Fox, stopping by the gym to
thank them for their help.
Although he may have
looked calm on the outside,
Besecker was freaking out
inside, he said. Blatt and Fox,
just by being there with assurance
and a willingness to
help, made all the difference,
he said.
“They had to respond to
an emergency situation, and
they don’t know my background,
my history,” he said.
“The calmness, the comfort
they tried to give — there’s
something special about people
who do something like
that.”
Tinley Park resident Rob Besecker (left) was saved by Larry Blatt, a Life Time Fitness
regular, who helped Besecker pull through a serious health scare in early January at Life
Time in Orland Park. Photos submitted
Jason Fox (left), the general manager of the gym, is credited with helping Tinley Park
resident Rob Besecker (right) during the emergency.