Oli Cooney suffered strokes and heart attacks but couldn’t stop working out. Source: Snapper Media
OLI Cooney was 20 years old and obsessed with working out.
The young man from West Yorkshire, UK, was similar to so many Australian gym junkies, devoting hours to his physique.
He worked out until his death four years later. Source: Snapper Media
A young Oli, at 16, who was never happy with his body. Source: Snapper Media
Unfortunately, this led him to begin injecting anabolic steroids to reach his ideal body weight.
Mr Cooney, who started training at the age of 16, suffered two heart attacks and three strokes but ignored repeated warnings to stop his hardcore exercise regime.
After being diagnosed with chronic heart damage he continued to train while telling his family he was “invincible and limitless”. By this stage he was in severe denial, had weakness down one side of his body and his speech had been affected.
On September 22, 2013, Mr Cooney collapsed at a friend’s house after a night out and died in hospital.
His death has been officially attributed to substance abuse this week at an inquest in Bradford, West Yorkshire.
His parents have warned steroids can kill. Source: Snapper Media
Assistant Bradford Coroner Dr Dominic 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 to or learn from the heart professionals.”
Men aged just above 30 are the most at risk. Source: Snapper Media
Doctors in Australia have also raised concerns about the impact of steroid use.
Dr Steve Hambleton, the head of the Australian Medical Association, said steroids are the country’s fastest growing injectable drug.
“We are worried because steroids can be sourced from anywhere,” he said. “They can have all sorts of side effects and affect everywhere in the body.”
Dr Hambleton said gym culture, “perfect body image” and sales and marketing campaigns all contributed to steroids’ popularity.
He said doctors are worried about female body image, but we should be worried about men too.
If the steroid culture in Sydney doesn’t change, more men could end up dead. Source: Snapper Media
The negative side effects of inappropriate steroid use also include aggression, skin changes, hair growth, testicular atrophy and the development of liver cancers.
In Mr Cooper’s case the use of steroids led to him suffering heart attacks and stroke.
The injectable drug is becoming more common in Australia, with detections of steroids at the border skyrocketing from 1038 in 2010-11 to 6126 in 2011-2012, according to the Australian Crime Commission.
Many Australians have died from anabolic steroid use. For instance, 24 New South Wales residents died from anabolic steroid use between 1996 and 2012, according to the state’s Department of Forensic Medicine. All of them were men with an average age of 31.7.
Oli’s mother and grand parents want others to think of the dangers. Source: Snapper Media
Mr Cooney’s devastated parents want to warn others that steroids can kill.
His mother, Sarah Cooney said: “Oli was driven by a passion for bodybuilding and unfortunately it was that passion that took his life. We would not want anyone to go through the hell we have been through. We will never move on from this.”
http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/fitness/steroids-slowly-killing-the-gymobsessed-youth/story-fnlsv23r-1226873678282
