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Bodybuilder beats health issues

Jeff Harlan of Butler prepares Wednesday at his gym, Harlan's Elite Fitness, to compete in Saturday's Great Lakes Championships, the first bodybuilding contest he will try in 20 years.

Excuse Jeff Harlan if he’s a little nervous come Saturday.

In fact, he might be downright emotional.

“I’ll probably be both of those things and then some,” the 46-year-old Butler resident said.

Harlan will be competing on Saturday in the Great Lakes Championships, a bodybuilding contest at the Bayfront Convention Center in Erie. He has competed in such events before.

But that was 20 years ago.

“I did eight or nine shows over a period of a few years,” Harlan recalled. “I was into it big-time. My last show, I took third at Mr. Pittsburgh when I was 26.

“I weighed 240 at the time. I was a big guy.”

Then it all went away — the weight and Harlan’s bodybuilding career.

Shortly after that Mr. Pittsburgh event, he was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, a disease that causes inflammation and sores in the lining of the large intestine. It also causes digestive problems and extreme weight loss.

“The doctors told me I could never do bodybuilding again,” Harlan said. “That news devastated me. I had a lifelong disease. I just shut down. I didn’t want to do anything.

“I had to go to the bathroom 20 or 30 times a day. I didn’t want to leave the house.”

He didn’t want to leave the sport, either.

So in 2000, Harlan opened his own gym. He worked with others in terms of weight training and bodybuilding. He prepped others for competitions he figured he could never do again.

“Sure, it bothered me,” he admitted. “I had to retire, but my passion was still there. That’s how I fed it.”

Harlan continued to work out on the weights and stayed fit. But physically, his body continued to deteriorate.

He endured a massive heart attack nearly three years ago — without realizing it.

“It was over the holidays. I was feeling hot and was all sweaty,” Harlan said. “My mother said I was having a heart attack. I kept saying ‘no way,’ I was just feeling a little sick.

“My trip to the hospital said otherwise.”

An examination revealed that a clot had broken off in Harlan’s aorta and was blocking three arteries. He was taken into emergency open heart surgery — four and a half hours after he originally felt the discomfort.

“You’re supposed to be dead within three and a half minutes after having a massive heart attack,” Harlan said. “I went more than four hours and walked into the hospital.

“Because I was physically fit, my heart and body withstood everything. The doctor who performed the surgery even told me I should have been dead.”

Harlan wasn’t out of the woods yet. He had his colon removed 18 months ago after being diagnosed with colon cancer. His weight was down to 153 as he laid in a hospital bed.

But after holding on to his life, he decided to live it.

With the help of family members and his longtime girlfriend, bodybuilder Theresa Ivancik, Harlan discovered a diet of foods he could eat that he could digest properly while gaining protein — and muscle weight — in his body.

“With the ulcerative colitis, I can only digest certain foods well,” he said. “I couldn’t do the fish and white rice. I could do chicken, fresh-cut green beans, oatmeal and Japanese sweet potatoes.

“Because I go to the bathroom so much, I have to eat greater portions than the normal bodybuilder in training, But we found a way to make it work.”

And Harlan decided to compete again. He will be in the 162-pound category Saturday in Erie.

“His journey is truly amazing,” Ivancik said. “With his drive, he could still control what he wants to do in his life.

“Jeff attacks everything full-force. He’s dedicated to everything he does.”

He will be doing what he loves to do Saturday — after a 20-year wait.

“When I get up on that stage, so many things will be running through my mind,” Harlan said. “Of course, it’d be nice to win, but this isn’t about winning. It’s about not quitting on life.

“I just want to motivate people. No matter what you do in life, bodybuilding, athletics, whatever, don’t give up no matter your physical situation. You can always take control of your life.

“If I can do it, anybody can do it,” he added.

Taylor Crede and Ben Cardone are other bodybuilders from Harlan’s gym in Butler who will be competing.

“But it feels like half the town of Butler is going up there to support him,” Ivancik said of Harlan.

Will Harlan continue to compete after Saturday?

“I think I will,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how I do ... just that I do,” he said.

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