After suffering a major heart attack back on March 29, two-time Olympic gold medalist Bruce Furniss is expected to make a full recovery.
Furniss, 62, was put into a medically induced coma after going into cardiac arrest, and woke up from it four days later on April 2, showing positive signs including communicating. After steady improvements in his condition, he was cleared to leave St.Joseph’s Hospital in Orange, California on April 9.
Now, in the latest update on his CaringBridge page, his wife Sharon says he’s exceeded doctor’s expectations thus far and has “shattered” recovery targets.
Read a section of the post below:
“Through God’s mercy and grace Bruce is not only alive today, but his doctors assure us of a 100% recovery to baseline both cardiac and neurologically. In fact, he has already shattered the recovery targets the doctors have outlined and other than his need to regain physical strength, he seems like he has already recovered less than one week after waking up from a coma. Not bad for an older guy, but then again my husband is a fighter, an eternal optimist and one who is loved by and prayed over by so many!”
Furniss won a pair of Olympic gold medals at the 1976 Games in Montreal, leading an American sweep in the men’s 200 freestyle while also contributing on the U.S. 800 free relays. Both swims were also new world records.
The former USC Trojan also won four Long Course World Championships medals, including a pair of relay golds in 1975 and 1978, and was a six-time NCAA champion. The Fresno, Calif., native set a total of 10 world and 19 American Records over the course of his career.
You can visit his CaringBridge page here.
I usually never comment but feel compelled to about Bruce. A few years back, I was timing at a Sectional meet in Carlsbad, sat next to Bruce, had no clue who he is, we chatted about our boys, how to help them from burning out & just general swim parents advice from an older parent to a younger one. My son is a few yrs younger than his & we told each other kids’ names. I looked at his son’s times cuz they were at the same meet & somehow the last name stuck with me until I saw this bit of news about Bruce. The tl/dr is that never once did Bruce say he was A GOLD MEDAL OLYMPIAN.… Read more »
Some good news in these uncertain times for the swimming world!
Great news! That’s awesome!
Hey Bruce, I had it 4 years ago and all healthy now! Swim long distance and 200 fly. It’s all in your mind. All the best.