Jeff Lebowski

I am 52 years old, after working as a navigation petty officer in the Navy for 25 years, I retired in 2017 and started working as a captain on commercial ships. In short, the sea has always been a part of my life.

For 12 years, I have been involved in endurance sports, I have competed in marathon and ultra-marathon distances. I have done performance rides with road bikes. To be honest, I did not know that I had a bicuspid aortic valve until 2018, in 2018, with a little push from my sister, who is a doctor, a heart echo was performed in a full-fledged university hospital and this condition was detected. My aortic root diameter was measured as 41 mm.
I never smoked or ate fast food, I thought I was healthy because I was doing regular sports and I didn't show any symptoms.

My cardiologist forbade me to participate in competitive sports. I followed this for the first year, but then I started sports again. I was not yet operated on because I was operated on in March 2024 because my aortic stenosis progressed and a mechanical aortic valve was installed.
Now I am on the road to recovery and I am looking forward to returning to sports.