When Joshua Warren collapsed while exercising while on duty back in June, his death stunned fellow firefighters because they said he was a man who was health conscious.
The reason he died also has them stunned.
“Really couldn’t believe it,” said Mike Turner, an assistant fire chief at East Lincoln Fire Department. ” A 34-year-old man in his shape would just fall over with a heart condition because he was a picture of health. You would have never…never in a million years would you have expected it.” WBTV obtained a copy of Warren’s death certificate. The medical examiner said the cause of Warren’s death was hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. It’s a disease where the heart muscle becomes abnormally thick. Pumping blood becomes hard.
Doctors say it often goes undiagnosed because people with it have few, if any symptoms.
Warren volunteered for several fire departments including East Lincoln Fire, where he was also a paid part-time firefighter.
East Lincoln Fire officials said they did not know about Warren’s heart condition prior to his death.