It took emergency heart surgery for Arnold Daner to finally realize that he couldn't survive, much less find happiness, at 400-plus pounds.
By TERRI D. REEVES
Published June 27, 2004
[Times photo: Douglas R. Clifford]
Today, Arnold Daner weighs 178 pounds, with a goal of reaching 165. He has participated in marathons and plans to compete in triathlons.
Arnold Daner, 63, left, sits with two of his sons, Fred Daner of Tampa, center, and Mike Daner of New Orleans on Father's Day 2002. Daner weighed more than 400 pounds.
Arnold Daner has spent most of his life searching for happiness.
He didn't find it in the food he ate, the liquor he drank or his businesses that failed.
Two years ago, he was morbidly obese, weighing in at 406 pounds on a 5-foot-7 frame. He wore a size 4X. His waist was nearly as wide as a Hula Hoop.
It hurt to walk. He often got around in a wheelchair or electric scooter.
His blood pressure was a stratospheric 220 over 120.
On Father's Day 2002, he collapsed. It taught him a lesson.
Now, at 63, he has lost 228 pounds and has the resting heart rate of an elite athlete. He has participated in marathons and aims to be a senior triathlete.
This Father's Day, he played his first round of golf in 22 years, with two of his sons.
"It was a very emotional day for me," he said.
Daner found his road to happiness. He travels it daily with a pair of Nike running shoes and a 17-inch yellow mountain bike.
"The beginning of happiness'
In his youth, Daner was a baseball player at New York University, where he obtained his master's degree in economics.
But he had trouble coping with life's ups and downs.
"For most of my life I was never happy," he said. When times were tough, he turned to the refrigerator and the liquor cabinet.
In the mid 70s, he became severely depressed and could not function. He was diagnosed as bipolar, a disorder characterized by alternating periods of extreme moods.
The 1980s were tough too, with the failures of his 20-year marriage and several software businesses he tried to start.
"I've been a total economic failure my whole life," he said. "People will tell you I'm a genius but I couldn't seem to get it all together."
He started living out of his old blue Dodge station wagon. Then he lost even that and became a street person living in Jacksonville.
"By then, I was actively seeking to end it all," he said.
He began receiving help from the Salvation Army, where he was treated for depression and drinking.
In June of 1991, he says, he made a spiritual recovery.
"It was the beginning of happiness in my life," he said. "I began realizing that there is more to life than money, jobs and things. I found God."
Although he is Jewish, he started working with the Salvation Army as a chaplain for the Christian organization.
He met an attorney and accountant who happened to be a recovering alcoholic and drug addict. The man gave Daner a job as a systems analyst for his new software company.
For the next decade, Daner worked for the Jacksonville company.
It was a good time in his life. He was productive again. He even had a radio show on a Christian broadcasting station. He re-established bonds with his sons Marc, now 41; Fred, now 38; and Mike, now 31.
At the Salvation Army, Daner learned that he didn't have a physical addiction to alcohol, but he did have one to food.
He was a veritable eating machine.
He would visit McDonald's three or four times a day, where he would order a double cheeseburger and large fries.
He loved bread and would eat a whole loaf at a time.
As the pounds piled on, he became a closet eater, sneaking food in his car or the bathroom, and keeping a locked filing cabinet filled with giant Hershey chocolate bars and M&Ms.
He once entered a charity food-eating contest. After downing two large pizzas and winning, he devoured an extra meatball sub - just for the entertainment value.
By 1990, he weighed 300 pounds. Over the next 12 years, he would pile on another 100 pounds.
A painful realization
In the summer of 2002, Daner started having chest pains, as though someone was reaching into his torso and ripping his heart out. He could not stand up without gasping for breath.
After three weeks of the pain, he called the doctor. When the results of a chemical stress test were revealed, he was taken by ambulance to the hospital.
Next thing he knew, he awoke from a six-hour quadruple bypass operation at St. Luke's, a Mayo Clinic hospital in Jacksonville. He found tubes connected to every orifice in his body, including the newly created cavity in his chest where doctors had sawed through his breastbone and split open his ribs to repair arteries that were 98 and 99 percent blocked.
More surprising, he was still alive.
By this time, he had figured he'd be knocking on heaven's door.
"Please God. No open-heart surgery," he had prayed.
God had a different plan.
As his family members gathered around him, he saw the concern in their faces. He realized how much how much they meant to him, and how much he meant to them.
His granddaughter, Alaina Daner, then 12, told him, "I've already lost one grandfather; I don't want to lose another."
Healthy new adventures
After the open-heart surgery, his surgeon showed him three pictures of former open-heart patients. Two had died shortly after surgery because they failed to change their lifestyles.
One, a 90-year-old man, had the surgery many years before and now walked a golf course five times a week.
"It's your life and your choice," the doctor told him.
So Daner looked to an old friend.
"I turned myself over to the will and care of God," he said.
He sold his car so he'd be forced to bike or walk wherever he went. He began biking 40 miles a day to the rehabilitation center, where he also received psychiatric treatment for his food addiction.
He followed the Mayo Clinic diet, which uses the food pyramid and restricts calories based on size and activity level. The diet, he said, is high in complex carbohydrates, moderate in protein and very low in fat.
He learned he could fill up on salad and water and be satisfied. Instead of a loaf of bread, he snacked on PowerBars. And the pounds started dropping.
Last year, he moved to Dunedin to be closer to his son Fred and his family, who live in Tampa. They included him in their YMCA membership, which he uses almost daily.
Buoyed by his continuing weight loss, he found a sense of adventure.
He hopped on a bus and spent six weeks biking in the mountains of New Mexico. Then he traveled to Colorado where he climbed Mt. Elbert.
He began jogging and reading Runner's World.
He decided to run his first race, the Lansbrook Lakefront Classic, in December. He was the last runner to hit the finish line in the 3.1-mile race, but was delighted just to complete the run as a group of people cheered him on at the finish line.
He ran the Gasparilla Distance Classic 5K run in January, finishing in 59 minutes.
He planned to compete in the St. Anthony's Triathlon until a 91-year-old driver ran into him on Drew Street in April. He suffered a concussion, fractured a rib and injured his hip. It has slowed him down some, and makes exercise more painful, but Daner continues to focus on his goals: to compete in marathons and triathlons.
He gets up at five every morning to begin his fitness quest. He bikes an average of 300 miles a week and runs about 30 miles a week. His time is down to 45 minutes for 3.1-mile run. He swims 35 or 40 laps almost daily.
On Sunday, he rests.
"I will never stop running'
Today, he weighs 178 pounds; his goal is 165. He no longer suffers from depression and is off all medication, except for one aspirin per day. His cholesterol is 148; under 200 is considered healthy. His heart rate is 45 to 50 beats per minute. His blood pressure is a low 110 over 55.
"He has made a dramatic improvement," said his Tampa cardiologist, Rodney Randall. "He has done much more than we have asked for and achieved more than we expected. By doing so, he has certainly lowered his future cardiovascular risk.
"It's remarkable he made his mind up and sold his car to force himself to exercise."
His daughter-in-law, Amy Daner, said he is a changed man.
"He keeps up with the grandkids now," said Mrs. Daner, 38. "He has goals and is much happier. It's given him an active social life he didn't have before."
In August, Daner plans to compete in the Central Florida Triathlon Series in Clermont as well as the inaugural Sand Key Triathlon in October.
"I will never stop running," he said.
Daner may not have achieved the financial success he dreamed of, but he doesn't mind.
"Good health and respect can't be bought," he said. "I've got a roof over my shoulders, a bike to ride, running shoes to run, and my kids and grandkids. What else do I need?"
