Heart Patient Dies After Bike Trip
The Associated Press
Monday, May 2, 2005
ANDERSON, Ind. -- A man who pedaled across the country after heart
bypass surgery gave him a second chance at life has died of a heart
attack, one day after completing the 2,400-mile trip.
Broc Bebout, a 57-year-old retired engineer, died Thursday on the van
drive back to his home in Anderson, about 25 miles northeast of
Indianapolis, one day after completing the ride from Carlsbad, Calif.,
to Brunswick, Ga.
His wife, Patricia Brinkman, said bicycling became Bebout's ticket to
nearly 20 years of good health after quadruple-bypass surgery at age
39. He also learned to eat right and take care of himself, she said.
In an e-mail to her Wednesday before a celebratory steak dinner,
Bebout described what the trip had meant to him: "An incredible
experience with incredible people."
"It was a trip of a lifetime," she said. "We all have a list of things
we like to say we did. That was right up there at the top."