My Doctor Said I Would Be Dead Within a Year

I was only 24 when I was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. I was so tired I could barely walk, my pulse was very rapid and erratic, and my ejection fraction, the amount of blood the heart pumps out on every contraction, was 20 percent. The normal range is about 50-70 percent.

I began taking the drugs the doctors ordered, and I had a procedure to get my heart beating in rhythm, but my ejection fraction remained low and I still had little energy.

My parents found out about the Whitaker Wellness Institute and took me there. I was put on a strict diet and a regimen of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), daily supplements, and magnesium, among other things. After three or four months my ejection fraction started to go up, eventually returning to normal.

I slowly stopped taking my prescriptions. I was no longer fatigued and could exercise strenuously, so I thought that I was over my problem. I quit my diet and stopped taking the CoQ10. But then I relapsed. I started taking drugs again, but my condition continued to deteriorate so much that I checked myself into the hospital. My ejection fraction was 12. The doctor told my parents that I would be dead within a year, or two years at the most.

Well, we contacted you and you put me back on CoQ10. After four months, I had the strength to fly out to see you again. I got back on a regimen of diet, vitamins and supplements, and increased in my CoQ10 intake.

In the late spring of 2000, I had the opportunity to go to Europe on a family vacation. I almost didn't go, for fear of being unable to keep up and ruining the vacation for everyone. But I went, and was able to do just about everything I wanted, including climbing the steps of an eight-story castle tower. It was a wonderful trip.

Today I continue to take CoQ10 and the other supplements as well as prescriptions. I still am in advertising and play golf couple of times a week. I am also engaged and plan to get married April of next year. I hope you can attend, Dr. Whitaker. I would not have proposed if I did not think I had a long and happy life ahead of me, thanks to you.

— Bill B., Georgia