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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Monday, February 28, 2005

Concert in beat with healthy hearts

By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer

"Hamburger steak, roast pork mix plate, gravy on the rice, extra gravy."

Jordan Segundo performed yesterday at Kapono's at the Aloha Tower Marketplace as part of a "Hawaiians at Heart" benefit concert for the American Heart Association organized by Moe Keale's widow.

Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser

Dennis Kubo of 'Aiea ordered his favorite grinds so often at a Kalihi lunchwagon that he started calling it "the heart-attack special" for short. But on April 5, 2000, the kidding stopped.

"I dropped dead for 2 1/2 minutes," said Kubo, who collapsed while relaxing after a doctor-ordered treadmill stress test.

"The firefighters told me, 'Brah, you were dead.' I'll never forget that day," he said.

Kubo underwent quadruple bypass surgery three days later. Today, at age 56, he's thankful for a second chance at life.

"I watch my diet, don't get too stupid," said Kubo, who was among several hundred people who came to Aloha Tower Marketplace for yesterday's first "Hawaiians at Heart" benefit concert for the American Heart Association at Kapono's.

Cardiovascular disease, which includes heart attacks and strokes, is Hawai'i's No. 1 killer, said Jocelyn Collado of the American Heart Association in Hawai'i.

About 3,300 people in Hawai'i die every year from heart-related problems, and Native Hawaiians are at the highest risk, Collado said.

"I still go to the lunchwagon, but I try to think of eating some kind of chicken dish, not too much rice and gravy," Kubo said. "You cannot deprive yourself totally because if you do, it's going to come back and bite you."

Proceeds from the concert will be used for heart-related research and for public and professional education and community service programs in Hawai'i.

The message is clear, said concert organizer Carol Keale, widow of entertainer Moe Keale, who died April 15, 2002, after a heart attack.

"It's a disease we can prevent by modifying our fat and salt intake, walking 20 minutes a day and not having a cigarette after every meal," Carol Keale said. "Moe was a man used to eating a pot of chili with rice and snacking on cookies and candies. He made a switch to fruit and salads."

Moe Keale's weight had dropped from 400 pounds to 250 pounds but the changes, for him, came too late.

'Aiea resident Joe Enos, 35, had heart surgery last February and like his neighbor, Dennis Kubo, he no longer eats local-style plates with rice, lots of gravy and mac salad everyday.

"I use a short cut," Enos said. "If I eat Hawaiian food like laulau, I take off the fat, or the skin from chicken. I exercise. I still like the smell of the steak cooking at Times 'Aiea, but I going eat it only occasionally. I got to do it because I no like be on that gurney being wheeled into the operating room again."

Glen Schmitt, 56, and his wife, Barbara Dougherty, of Mo'ili'ili have changed their eating habits since the death of Dougherty's 22-year-old son a year ago in Missouri from an undiagnosed heart problem.

"We do all we can to support American Heart Association research because it can save one child's life; we know someone is not going to suffer through what we went through," said Schmitt, who is doing his own part by watching his diet. Schmitt weighs more than 300 pounds, but he has lost 60 pounds and wants to shed 120 more.

In memory of her husband of 27 years, Carol Keale hopes people will do what it takes to modify their eating choices to "give yourself the gift of life."

Reach Rod Ohira at 535-8181 or rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.