We often associate health with visible fitness, the person who works out regularly, avoids junk food, and steers clear of smoking and alcohol. But sometimes, what’s going on inside the body tells a very different story. In her August 5 Instagram post, Dr Shagun Agarwal, orthopaedic surgeon, shared the heartbreaking case of Rohan, a 29-year-old, who seemed to do everything right, yet collapsed mid-workout due to a silent, undiagnosed heart condition.
How 29-year-old died of sudden cardiac arrest
Dr Agarwal shared in her post, “Rohan was 29. Worked in tech. Gym six days a week. No smoking, no alcohol, no junk. Disciplined to the core.” His Instagram, she recalled, was full of gym selfies and captions like ‘No excuses’ beneath videos of 80 kg presses – his mother would worry, sometimes saying, “Just don’t overdo it, son. Make sure you get some rest too,” to which Rohan would laugh, “Maa, I’m the healthiest one here!” Everyone agreed, until that one Tuesday evening.
“Incline dumbbell press. Set 1. Set 2. Set 3… Mid-rep, his arms dropped. Weights hit the floor. So did he. No scream. No warning. No second chance,” Dr Agarwal recalled. Initially, no one around realised the gravity of the situation. “’Is he acting?’ someone said. ‘Bro? You okay?’ someone whispered. But Rohan wasn’t breathing,” she said. “CPR. Ambulance. By the time his parents reached… it was over.”
What caused the sudden cardiac arrest
According to Dr Agarwal, the cause was a sudden cardiac arrest triggered by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a silent condition where the heart muscle becomes abnormally thick. “What killed him? Sudden cardiac arrest. Caused by a silent condition: hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a thickening of the heart muscle that went undetected,” she explained.
She further warns of compounding risk factors that often go unnoticed in young fitness enthusiasts. “Add to that: Low magnesium and potassium. High-caffeine fat burner. No basic tests ever done. No ECG. No echo. Not even electrolyte levels,” she pointed out.
“This isn’t just about Rohan. It could be your gym buddy. Your brother. Your partner. Even you,” Dr Agarwal urged people, especially those who appear outwardly healthy, not to skip basic health screenings.
