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It started with a COVID test

Zack went in for a COVID test in 2022 and discovered he had high blood pressure. 

His doctor talked with him about hypertension and sent him to a cardiologist. 

Zack was young. He worked out. He ate well. So the doctor’s plan was straightforward: lower salt intake, do more cardio, and have annual visits until his 40s.

Zack followed the advice.

Then he found Function.

The marker that needed attention

When Zack's results came back, something stood out: elevated Apolipoprotein B, or ApoB. It wasn’t included in the panel his cardiologist had ordered. Zack had never heard of it.

He started researching and learned ApoB is a strong indicator of cardiovascular risk. 

Zack took his Function results to a preventive cardiologist, a heart specialist focused on reducing your risk of future cardiovascular disease rather than only treating problems after they happen. And this time, the reaction was different. Instead of looking at a few isolated numbers, the doctor saw a broader set of signals together and ordered a Coronary Artery Calcium (CAC) scan the following week that Zack paid for out of pocket.

A CAC scan measures the buildup of calcified plaque in the heart’s arteries, the kind that can accumulate silently over many years. 

Zack’s results came back higher than anyone expected.

I had built up far more plaque than my doctors presumed I was capable of.

The conversation that put everything in context

As Zack was going through the process, he called his father.

He asked about family history he had never thought to explore. He learned there was elevated blood pressure on one side of his family, elevated lipids on the other. And his grandfather had had his first heart attack at 39.

Zack was 34.

A shift that took months

Based on his results and family history, the doctor prescribed a statin to lower LDL cholesterol and heart attack risk.

It marked this transition from a kid who thinks he's immortal to an adult who has to take care of his body.

He shifted to targeted changes: cutting red meat and exercising consistently. Then his second round of Function results arrived. The numbers were moving in the right direction.

His LDL cholesterol had declined dramatically. His ApoB came back within range.

His cardiologist told him that his risk was now declining.

That moment shifted from a moment of fear every day to a moment of real appreciation. I'm thankful. And Function helped me make that transition.

What Zack tells everyone he knows

Zack signed up his entire family and talks about Function at every opportunity.

"When I look at myself and think about how easy it would have been to miss something so glaring and so serious, it's hard not to look at the people you love and wonder, what might be going on with them?"

For anyone on the fence, he doesn't hold back.

It is way less scary to find something early, when you can do something about it, than to find it when you're already too late.

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