Overcoming Challenge

During a Spartan Ultrabeast in 2019, George suffered severe dehydration during the 50km Trail event (with 60+ obstacles) in Ipoh, Malaysia. He didn’t realise how bad his body state was until he saw symptoms in his urine back in the hotel room. Still, he made his own way back to Singapore on an 8hrs overnight journey, and even reported back to work right away.

It was only in the evening that he went to the clinic for a checkup, and the doctor immediately referred him to the Hospital A&E department. A blood test was done, and his test results surprised even the A&E doctors!

George was diagnosed to be suffering from Rhabdomyolysis (a medical term to describe the over-breakdown of muscle fibres within the human body). A normal human’s Creatine Kinase (CK) level range between 50-200. The hospital’s CK test machine is capable of testing up to 42000 in blood samples. And George’s blood sample turned out to be outside of the machine’s test range, which means his CK level was above 42000!

George was subsequently admitted to hospital for 4 days. No medical treatment was required, except pure rest and hydrations. During the 4 days stay, the doctor-in-charge was so amazed at how George’s body continued to perform throughout the whole trail event and at his speedy rate of recovery in the hospital. She even invited a group of young DUKE medical doctors to do an interview with George, just to understand how George was able to perform the way he did. This was what Dr Daphne said to George, “In my 20 plus years as a doctor, I have never seen a case like yours before. This is the first time in my life!”