Too Soon to Die

This story really breaks my heart. Don Doane belonged to the same bowling team at a Ravenna, Michigan, bowling alley for 45 years.

Just moments after rolling the first perfect 300 game of his life, Doane collapsed onto the floor while high-fiving his Nutt Farm teammates. The 62-year-old Ravenna resident was taken to a local hospital but couldn’t be saved. A medical examiner determined that a heart attack killed Doane.

Jim Nutt spoke with Grand Rapids TV stations WOOD and WZZM about his friend and teammate, who collapsed at the bowling alley. Nutt says Doane won’t be forgotten by his many friends at the Muskegon County bowling alley. They say it’s strange not seeing Doane anymore on league nights.

How terrible that is to be celebrating such an amazing accomplishment, only to die a few minutes later. How sad to be high-fiving your friends and collapse immediately to the floor.

I’ve never heard of Don Doane before and I don’t know any thing more about his medical history or why this heart attack happened as it did. However, speaking from personal experience, let me encourage you to get regular heart checkups. If you have a family history of heart problems or if your job is extremely stressful, don’t even question doing it—just do it! Talk to a cardiologist. Set up the appointment. There’s no good reason to wait—but there are at least four good reasons to see the cardiologist—those would be your four arteries in your heart.

Okay, enough preaching to you. Just don’t wait too long. I’d really like to hear about you running your first marathon or winning a cooking contest or riding a new distance on your bike or seeing the birth of your first grandchild or finding the perfect place to serve God. You can’t do those things if you are dead. Don Doane’s celebration was way too short. Don’t let your celebrations be like that.