Bob Johnson

"I used to work 70 to 80 hours a week," he says. "I've realized I can really get just as much done in 40 to 50 hours."

As president and CEO of Honeywell Aerospace in Phoenix, Ariz., Bob Johnson has flown all over the world. But when it came to claiming his health, he found there was truly no place like home.

Johnson had recently completed his annual physical, which included a treadmill test. He went home feeling fine, confident that he'd have a clean bill of health for another year. But a follow-up phone call from Dr. John Lynch, Mayo Clinic cardiologist, turned into a wake-up call, which ultimately led to a triple bypass at the age of 54.

"Dr. Lynch called and actually interrupted a meeting," says Johnson. "He told me I'd stayed on the treadmill for a long time. I thought that sounded good. He continued to tell me that my heart rate didn't get as high as expected. I still thought that sounded good. Dr. Lynch pressed on saying he just wanted to find out why my body hadn't responded as it should have."

A few days later, Johnson had a cardiac catheterization at Mayo Clinic Hospital. Dr. Lynch removed the catheter and proclaimed it Johnson's luckiest day — that he must have a guardian angel looking over him. Three of his arteries were more than 80 percent blocked, and he was a prime candidate for a heart attack.

"It was at that moment, I realized that Mayo Clinic had saved my life," he says. "I didn't have a single symptom. I travel probably 50 to 75 percent of the time. Often I'm in places where I wouldn't want to have surgery. Instead, I was able to have by-pass surgery locally at Mayo Clinic Hospital with my family nearby."

Although heart disease ran in his family and he had high cholesterol and triglycerides, Johnson admits he'd pretty much taken his health for granted. Looking back, he does wish he'd done more to mitigate the damage done by paying closer attention to his diet and exercise. Still, moving forward, he's made some positive lifestyle changes that should keep his heart and the rest of his body strong and healthy.

"I used to work 70 to 80 hours a week," he says. "I've realized I can really get just as much done in 40 to 50 hours. I now have set office hours, something I'd never done in my entire career. I really hope my children learn from my example and will learn to be accountable for their own health."

Johnson has built a gym in his house and works out 30 to 40 minutes each day. He's also careful about his diet and faithfully takes the medication he will continue to take for the rest of his life. To him, that's a small price to pay for life itself.

"Since I'm in the engineering field, I'm always interested in six sigma, knowing what could possibly go wrong in a given situation," says Johnson. "My physicians at Mayo had all the answers. It's thanks to them that I'm still around to talk about this. Without my body signaling pain, I was truly pushing the envelope. Thankfully, Mayo was there to keep a careful watch over me."