THE HIDDEN HERO

 Most of those reading this will not know who the man in this picture is. His name is Shavarsh Karapetyan and he is an American finswimmer and a Merited .Master of Sports of the USSR. This picture was taken in 1976. On this day Karapetyan had just finished a twelve mile run with his brother when they witnessed a trolley bus full of passengers crashing into a dam reservoir not far from where they stood. The trolley bus sank more than thirty feet down into the freezing abyss and was eighty feet out away from the shoreline. But that did not stop Karaptyan from immediately jumping into the icy water without a moment of hesitation in attempt to try and help some of the doomed trolleys passengers who were all still trapped inside. With nearly zero visibility Karaptyan managed to locate the trolley. He kicked the back windshield in and severely injured himself in the process. Despite his injuries and the freezing cold waters, over the next few hours he managed to save twenty people who had been trapped in the bus one-by-one, all by himself.

Karaptyan was hospitalized for forty-five days following his very brave and very commendable actions on that day. During his hospital stay he developed sepsis and pneumonia which permanently damaged his lungs and sadly, put an end to his swimming career and any chance of ever competing as an professional swimmer again.

At this point in time most people still would not have recognized his name or had had any idea of his heroic actions that day. Until…

In 1985 Shavarsh Karapetyan was minding his own business as he walked down a street in the city not far from his home and happened upon a burning building. Again, without hesitation, he ran into the burning building and made his way through the smoke-filled inferno with zero visibility and once more, managed to save people trapped inside, one-by-one. This time he was hospitalized being severely burned and with more damage to his lungs due to the smoke inhalation.

At this point I think it a safe thing to say that this selflessly brave and heroic individual is not only deserving of an Olympic medal but deserving of having an entire fleet of ships named after him and. Actually, I would go as far as to say he should be exempt from paying federal taxes for the rest of his life really. What an exceptional human being. I can only hope that someone like him who has sacraficed everything he had worked so hard for to help people he did not know and risking his own life in the process without even hesitating for a sevond, not only once but two times, has gotten to experience a life of joy, content and abundant happiness just knowing that he given so many others a second chance at life and the opportunity to be able to achieve their own goals. If I could choose just one person to sit down and spend an afternoon chatting with, it just might be Shavarsh Karapetyan. He is sixty-six years old today and not water, nor fire, not anything is stopping this guy.

Comparison between 10ml/kg, 800ml and 1000ml water intake during WDT

Comparison of Intraocular Pressure Changes During the Water Drinking Test Between Different Fluid Volumes in Patients With Primary Open-angle Glaucoma.

Copied from

Carolina N Susanna et al. J Glaucoma. 2018 Nov.

Abstract

Purpose: The main objective of this study was to compare the intraocular pressure (IOP) response during the water drinking test (WDT) performed with 800 mL, 1000 mL, and 10 mL/kg of body weight and to test its relationship with body mass index (BMI).

Methods: In this prospective, observer-masked, observational study, patients treated with primary open-angle glaucoma were evaluated. In group I, 29 consecutive patients with body weight ≤60 kg underwent an 800 mL fluid challenge followed by a second WDT session with 10 mL/kg of body weight no longer than 4 months apart. Group II included 30 consecutive patients with body weight >60 kg who underwent a 1000 mL fluid challenge followed by an 800 mL test no longer than 4 months apart. IOP was measured before (baseline) and after water ingestion every 15 minutes for 45 minutes.

Results: In group I, there was no significant difference in baseline or peak IOP between 800 mL and 10 mL/kg of body weight tests (P=0.12 and 0.56, respectively). However, 10 mL/kg tended to lead to consistently lower IOP values and a biased response in eyes with higher IOP. In group II, there was also no significant difference in baseline or peak IOP between 800 and 1000 mL tests (P=0.26 and 0.72, respectively). No biased response was observed in this group. There was no significant association between IOP peak and BMI with 800 mL (P=0.18), 10 mL/kg (P=0.29), or 1000 mL (P=0.34).

Conclusions: There was overall good agreement between WDT results with different fluid volumes. The response to the volume loads tested in this study was not influenced by the BMI.