Man who ‘died’ twice visits first responders as he bikes from Ogden to Kentucky

Kayne Pyatt, Herald Reporter
Posted 9/21/18

Man biking from Utah to Kentucky visits Evanston

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Man who ‘died’ twice visits first responders as he bikes from Ogden to Kentucky

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EVANSTON — After having suffered two massive heart attacks, and with 16 stents and a pacemaker defibrillator placed in his heart, Bob Quick of Ogden, Utah, is on his third bicycle tour across the nation.  For this tour, Quick left Ogden on Sept. 11, and is riding to Lexington, Kentucky. He hopes to raise money for the Alano Club in Ogden, which is a social club for recovering addicts.

“Drugs are everyone’s problem,” Quick said. “There are high suicide rates among addicts and we all need to help.”

As a recovering addict himself, he also wants to inspire others to seek help, find a support system, pray, and exercise.

“The Alano Club is a great club for addicts where they can socialize, dance, share meals and get the support they need to recover. I had a great family, my church and friends that helped me to get treatment.”

At 57 years of age, Quick has advanced coronary artery disease, a hereditary heart problem that caused him to have a massive heart attack in September 2004. He said he died for three and a half minutes, but firemen and paramedics wouldn’t give up and were finally able to resuscitate him.

He said he died a second time and had to learn to walk again. He took up culinary arts, competed and won a cooking competition. He repaid the firemen who saved his life by cooking a good meal for them.  

“When I died,” Quick said, “I saw God as energy and light and Jesus as a middle-eastern man and they told me I had work to do so I had to live. I ride for different charities each time and tell my story and thank first responders. Because I died, my life changed, and I want to help others.”

Quick has had 27 heart surgeries, the most recent less than four weeks ago, on Sept. 2, and 22 hours and 15 minutes later, he and his heart surgeon rode bikes from Idaho into Utah.   

Quick’s trainer and coach, Dave Edgell, has a sign on the wall where they exercise that reads, “What one can do, so can another.” Quick adds his own mantra, “Never quit, never ever.” Those two quotes represent the passion and determined energy of Bob Quick.

Friday morning, Sept. 14, Chief Jon Kirby and officers Justin George and Chad Liechty met Quick and his two companions at the police station. Quick stops in every town to give thanks and a hug to first responders. He spent time with them sharing his personal story and asked them to sign his bike and pack.  

Quick’s son Conrad rode with him on his first bicycle tour and his daughter on another. They went coast to coast over thousands of miles riding for different charities each time. 

On this tour he is accompanied by Rusty Healey, a filmmaker who is doing a documentary on Quick’s journey, which he plans to submit to the Sundance Film Festival this coming season. 

The two met Tim Damburger of Gardnerville, Nevada, at Echo, Utah, and invited him to join them for as far as he wants. Damburger, 75, is riding his bicycle to Boston to celebrate his granddaughter’s first birthday. He rode into Evanston with Quick and Healey.

Quick gets a variety of sponsors, and this year’s sponsors are Skyline Bicycle, Bob’s Trailers, Scott Bikes and Murphy’s Doors — all of Ogden, Utah — and Cardiac Renal Centers of America, where his cardiologist, Dr. Jack Lassiter, practices. Murphy’s Doors is owned by Jeremy Barker, one of the firefighters who saved Quick’s life when he had the first massive heart attack. Murphy’s Doors also has a plant in Lexington, Kentucky, and that’s one of the reasons Quick is ending his tour there. Also, his cardiologist was raised in Lexington. 

“All of my doctors will tell you I should not be here,” Quick said. “But God wants me to do this work and I love it. I get to hug and thank a police officer and a fireman every day.”

Printed on Quick’s T-shirt is his motto, “If you don’t believe, you’re a fool.” He said his mission is to dispel the myth that disabilities are debilitating by continuing his bicycle journeys, by sharing his personal story and encouraging others to get up off the couch and exercise. 

His website, bobquicksjourney.com, gives his story and replays interviews with Fox TV and local Utah TV stations.