Close or not he was a peer. It always makes you stop and think.....
20 plus years ago I was s paramedic. So many times I rushed someone to the emergency room who never left alive. I always thought "this person woke up the same as me today. Got out of bed. Had a cup of coffee. Put on their shoes, went to work etc etc....but I'm alive and they're not."
Im not spiritual or religious. I don't believe in karma or fate. But when ever someone you know passes it always makes you pause and think about how life is not guaranteed.
Yes it sure makes you aware of your mortality.
I just woke up but I`ll tell you guys about a close friend and training partner that I`ve known since grammar school.....he died due to abusing gear and never doing cardio in my opinion....was only 52 years old, great guy that would give you the shirt off of his back....that one really hurt.
To be continued cuz I think everyone can learn from his death and his mistakes.
OK, I`m back and want to tell you about my lifelong friend and sometime training partner.....we would hit the Mr. Massachusettes and the Mr. New England contest and then I moved up here to Northern NY state....I kept in touch with friend by phone but that get old quick so he ended up being the only guy I stayed in contact with from Springfield Ma.
He was the type of guy that never smoked a cigarette or pot,never did any rec drugs, and never even had a single beer in his entire life and played a lot of sports as a kid and as a man played in a summer softball league every year......he also got heavier into gear as time went by.
I wont delve into this but he had two kids and walked in on his wife one day as he came home early and caught her getting laid on the couch.....of course he was devastated and as time went on did some stuff that was totally against his charachter.....in short he was losing it mentally and the guy that was fucking his wife ended up hanging himself ....but I digress, and don`t want to disparage his name, but he began acting crazy and totally unlike his normal former self.
Anyway when I moved to the sticks up here I would send him cash and he would send me up some gear as I had no gear connection up here with thee hicks when I was competing and he actually drove up here and did two shows with me in Rochester and Syracuse NY.
He would make me wait long periods of time for my gear knowing that I needed it to compewte.....in actuality he was buying it for himself using his cash as well as mine and started really upping the dose and also around this time began using Insulin and using it and then when he made up more cash he`d always send my stuff up just in the nick of time before I ran out so I could stay on my cycle.
Anyway talking to him on the phone he would tell me how he did a whopping 5 minutes of cardio on a stationary bike while I would do a minimum of a half hour or more.....we were prepping for the Masters Nats and I told him to get busy in the cardio and he would cheat a lot on his diet.....gotta` be on point for that contest....tons of great competitors playing chemical warfare.
He was a shorter guy and wanted to be huge but if he got truly ripped he would have been hard to beat in his class......hardly ever did cardio or dieted real hard cuz he wanted to get bigger.
Anyway one day I called him to see why my fucking gear was taking so long to arrive and he told me he was having breathing problems....I told him to see a doc but he disregarded my advice.
Long story short we did the Nats and planned on doing the IFBB North America in a month in Cleveland Ohio which I did, but he didn`t quite make it unfortunately.
He told me over the phone that simply walking up a flight of stairs had him gasping for breath.....again, I told him to get to a doc ASAP but he said fuck that the doctor would only tell him to quit gear and quit training and he wasn`t having that.
A few day later his older sister called me and told me he had gone to the Emergency room with breathing problems and that was it,he went in but never came out alive...............arte
rial blockage to his heart.
A great guy but in reality the things he was doing to himself, stuff that he wouldn`t do normally before the wife incident really fucked him up he was better off as he was a mental mess and suffering daily mentally.....just acting strange....nothing sexual so don`t go there he was just in the midst of a nervous breakdown.
Dead at 52 leaving two great kids behind......I truly miss the guy as I said I knew him since grade school.
Here`s a pic of me and him.....he` on the left on the pic.....I`m the handsome cat in the middle.

Daniel Demas
2002
New England Championships - NPC, Masters 40+, 3rd
2003
Massachusetts Championships - NPC, MiddleWeight, 3rd
Nationals - NPC, MiddleWeight, Did not place
2004
Masters Nationals - NPC, MiddleWeight, 11th
2005
Masters Nationals - NPC, MiddleWeight, 13th
2006
New England Championships - NPC, MiddleWeight, 4th
North American Championships - IFBB, Masters MiddleWeight, 5th
North American Championships - IFBB, WelterWeight, 6th
2007
Masters Nationals - NPC, MiddleWeight, 8th
North American Championships - IFBB, Masters 40+ MiddleWeight, 11th
2008
Eastern USA Championships - NPC, Masters LightWeight, 8th
Eastern USA Championships - NPC, MiddleWeight, 14th
2010
North American Championships - IFBB, Masters 50+ WelterWeight, 2nd
2011
Masters Nationals - NPC, Masters 50+ MiddleWeight, 14th