Hardly bad luck.
Yeah...I'm siding with you on that. I agree that Earl has a point about all pros abusing their bodies...but even for a pro, I think Tom was a bit more reckless than most. Especially when you compare Tom to, say, Kevin Levrone. After tearing his pec in 1993, Kev took six months off before the 1994 Mr. Olympia...it was then that he realized that he didn't need to be on juice year-round, and could still be enormous. Ronnie Coleman would also customarily stop training immediately after the Mr. Olympia, and not start training again until around the time of the Arnold Classic. That was a solid 3-4 month break, depending on the exact dates of both events.
Also, look at Tom's recklessness in competing one final time, at the Ironman Pro in 2004. Here were Tom's comments on that, which he posted on MuscleMayhem:
I appreciate the sentiments and well wishes. Thank you for that.
One of the signs that your kidney's are having trouble is that your lungs start aking on a small amount of fluid. That happens because your kidney's are overworked, and are having a hard time regulating your water. The excess water puts a strain on the heart, which has to pump harder to get the water pushed through your kidney's. When you have too much water in your blood stream, it can back up into your lungs. The "gurgle" sound I coud hear at the end of every breath, is fluid in my lungs. Fluid in your lungs also makes in harder to breath. MUCH harder.
Compound the problem with being nervous about having to pose and compete while having a shortness of breath, and I started to hyperventalate.
This problem started on Friday, but I did my best to wait until the very last second to see if my lunds would clear, or go away. It didn't clear up until this morning (Sunday), after basically spending all day Saturday in bed.
I did get to go to the expo for an hour, just to sowly walk around and get some fresh air. Everything is fine right now.
^ Not great spelling for an English Master's degree holder. Also - that was sheer recklessness, IMO.
If the story is true - it's reckless. If the story is not true, then it's more evidence that Tom was a bit delusional, and his tendencies to exaggerate how successful people can be [not just him] without steroids/PEDs.
If what he said was true - even WITH kidney failure, and waiting for a transplant...Tom did that? Wow.
In that January of 2004 issue of FLEX, in the article "To Hell and Back" about Tom's woes, he said he had his creatinine tested, and was immediately called by his doctor and told he was in kidney failure, and to come to the hospital IMMEDIATELY.
Tom stopped to get ice cream with his wife Rebecca, on the way.
It just REALLY struck me as someone who didn't give a hang about his health, to do that.
In the end, Tom WAS extremely cautious about his health, shrinking down to, what, 160-lb [maybe less?], and seemed to have everything else under control, health-wise. If the USA is anything like Canada, you can't get an organ transplant if you don't pass various drug tests...so, IMO, Tom probably WAS living healthily post-diagnosis [since the 2004 Ironman - save for a couple of gear cycles someone I know who lived near him told me he ran in the late 00's]. But otherwise, I think Tom lived a good lifestyle - but only because he HAD to.
I'm not sure exactly when, but sometime between 2004 and 2011, Tom underwent his kidney transplant.
So while I think Tom had bad luck, I DO think he was more reckless than most pros. If you compare him to Dorian Yates, for example, Dorian literally did nothing but live the bodybuilding life. I know Dorian ordered a Lady of the Night when he visited my city - but I don't think he did drugs, and I'm not even aware of Dorian drinking alcohol in his competitive heyday. Whereas Tom seemed to have been burning the candle at both ends.
