PAiN
04-03-2014, 12:50 AM
A fitness fanatic obsessed with bodybuilding ignored warnings to stop working out and was killed by taking a cocktail of steroids and ‘bulking-up supplements’, an inquest has heard.
Aged just 20 Oli Cooney had suffered two heart attacks and three strokes due to his intense fitness routine but ignored doctors who told him his life was at risk if he did not cut back his bodybuilding and weight lifting.
He also refused to listen to friends and family telling them he was ‘invincible and limitless’.
Just a month before his death he wrote on his own Facebook site: “Some guy in the gym saying he’s had a chest infection so he hasn’t trained for a year I’m like ha (sic) ive (sic) heart attacks, strokes, heart failure only 3 months off. like a boss.”
After working out from the age of 16, the 5ft 2in bodybuilding obsessive was open with his family about taking anabolic steroids because he wanted to change his body image.
But after a night out on September 22 last year, his collapsed while running for a taxi and was later pronounced dead shortly after arriving at Bradford Royal Infirmary.
His mother, Sarah Cooney said she and her husband Simon wanted their son’s death to drive home the message that steroids can kill.
Mrs Cooney said: “Oli was driven by a passion for bodybuilding and unfortunately it was his passion that took his life.
“We would not want anyone to go through this hell we have been through. We will never move on from this.”
The inquest in Bradford, West Yorks, heard how Mr Cooney from Baildon was also taking physical enhancing supplements including milk thistle at the time of his death, having been diagnosed with chronic heart damage after complaining of chest pains.
He had stopped taking the anabolic steroids but the irreversible and long-term damage to his heart had already been done.
Despite having three heart attacks and two strokes, which left him with weakness down one side and without speech for a time, he responded well to physiotherapy but returned to working out at the gym three or four times a week.
He told a nurse he would rather have another heart attack than another stroke because of the effect a stroke would have on his body.
The hearing was told by health professionals how he seemed to be in some denial about his serious heart condition and its consequences, and he had insisted on continuing to take bulking-up supplements, although he would always get them checked out first with medics.
Assistant Bradford Coroner Dr Dominic Bell recorded a verdict of substance abuse of anabolic steroids, and told Mr Cooney’s family were not to blame themselves.
Dr Bell said: “He had this weakness that he was driven to alter his body image to become more confident in society.
“For most people what had already happened to him would have been a wake-up call but he was not willing to listen or learn from the heart professionals.
“If he did not listen to them, he would not listen to you - it does not reflect any shortfall on you.”
Aged just 20 Oli Cooney had suffered two heart attacks and three strokes due to his intense fitness routine but ignored doctors who told him his life was at risk if he did not cut back his bodybuilding and weight lifting.
He also refused to listen to friends and family telling them he was ‘invincible and limitless’.
Just a month before his death he wrote on his own Facebook site: “Some guy in the gym saying he’s had a chest infection so he hasn’t trained for a year I’m like ha (sic) ive (sic) heart attacks, strokes, heart failure only 3 months off. like a boss.”
After working out from the age of 16, the 5ft 2in bodybuilding obsessive was open with his family about taking anabolic steroids because he wanted to change his body image.
But after a night out on September 22 last year, his collapsed while running for a taxi and was later pronounced dead shortly after arriving at Bradford Royal Infirmary.
His mother, Sarah Cooney said she and her husband Simon wanted their son’s death to drive home the message that steroids can kill.
Mrs Cooney said: “Oli was driven by a passion for bodybuilding and unfortunately it was his passion that took his life.
“We would not want anyone to go through this hell we have been through. We will never move on from this.”
The inquest in Bradford, West Yorks, heard how Mr Cooney from Baildon was also taking physical enhancing supplements including milk thistle at the time of his death, having been diagnosed with chronic heart damage after complaining of chest pains.
He had stopped taking the anabolic steroids but the irreversible and long-term damage to his heart had already been done.
Despite having three heart attacks and two strokes, which left him with weakness down one side and without speech for a time, he responded well to physiotherapy but returned to working out at the gym three or four times a week.
He told a nurse he would rather have another heart attack than another stroke because of the effect a stroke would have on his body.
The hearing was told by health professionals how he seemed to be in some denial about his serious heart condition and its consequences, and he had insisted on continuing to take bulking-up supplements, although he would always get them checked out first with medics.
Assistant Bradford Coroner Dr Dominic Bell recorded a verdict of substance abuse of anabolic steroids, and told Mr Cooney’s family were not to blame themselves.
Dr Bell said: “He had this weakness that he was driven to alter his body image to become more confident in society.
“For most people what had already happened to him would have been a wake-up call but he was not willing to listen or learn from the heart professionals.
“If he did not listen to them, he would not listen to you - it does not reflect any shortfall on you.”