When surfing superstar Andy Irons was found dead in a hotel room in November, dengue fever was initially suspected. Irons had withdrawn from a competition in Puerto Rico, saying he had contracted an illness while in Portugal.
Now we know that one of the world's great surfers died at age 32 from a heart attack caused by atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, a condition that normally doesn't present until the late 40s.
But that's not the end of the story: According to the long-delayed autopsy report, a secondary cause of Irons' death was "acute mixed drug ingestion." Irons had cocaine and methamphetamine in his system, according to a toxicology report. After Irons was found dead in his room at an airport hotel in Dallas, while on a layover before heading home to Hawaii, police found a prescription anxiety medication in his room, as well as a sleep aid and methadone, a narcotic used to ease the withdrawal from opiate addiction.
Irons' death shocked the surfing world. In Orange County, an emotional paddle-out was held in mid-November in Huntington Beach, and thousands turned out to honor him. View a slide show of the paddle-out.
The autopsy report was provided to The New York Times by a publicist for Irons' family. The report was conducted by the Tarrant County (Texas) Medical Examiner's office and won't be publicly released until June 20.
The report was delayed out of concern for Irons' widow Lyndie, who was eight months' pregnant with their son Andy Axel Irons at the time of the surfer's death.
A statement released by the family and posted on our beach blog attributes Irons' death to natural causes. The family had asked Dr. Vincent Di Maio, a forensic pathologist from San Antonio, to review the autopsy, and he disputed the finding that drugs played a role.
From the family's statement:
As we are not doctors, we have no choice but to accept that two respected pathologists have come to different conclusions about a secondary contributing cause of death.
However, the family would like to address the findings of prescription and non-prescription drugs in Andy's system. Andy was prescribed Xanax and Zolpidem (Ambien) to treat anxiety and occasional insomnia -- a result of a bipolar disorder diagnosed by his family doctor at age 18. This is when Andy first began experiencing episodes of manic highs and depressive lows. The family believes Andy was in some denial about the severity of his chemical imbalance and tended to blame his mood swings on himself and his own weaknesses, choosing to self-medicate with recreational drugs.
Members of his family, close friends, and an industry sponsor intervened over the years to help Andy get clean, but the effort to find balance in his life was certainly complicated by his chemical makeup.
Now we know that one of the world's great surfers died at age 32 from a heart attack caused by atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, a condition that normally doesn't present until the late 40s.
But that's not the end of the story: According to the long-delayed autopsy report, a secondary cause of Irons' death was "acute mixed drug ingestion." Irons had cocaine and methamphetamine in his system, according to a toxicology report. After Irons was found dead in his room at an airport hotel in Dallas, while on a layover before heading home to Hawaii, police found a prescription anxiety medication in his room, as well as a sleep aid and methadone, a narcotic used to ease the withdrawal from opiate addiction.
Irons' death shocked the surfing world. In Orange County, an emotional paddle-out was held in mid-November in Huntington Beach, and thousands turned out to honor him. View a slide show of the paddle-out.The autopsy report was provided to The New York Times by a publicist for Irons' family. The report was conducted by the Tarrant County (Texas) Medical Examiner's office and won't be publicly released until June 20.
The report was delayed out of concern for Irons' widow Lyndie, who was eight months' pregnant with their son Andy Axel Irons at the time of the surfer's death.
A statement released by the family and posted on our beach blog attributes Irons' death to natural causes. The family had asked Dr. Vincent Di Maio, a forensic pathologist from San Antonio, to review the autopsy, and he disputed the finding that drugs played a role.
As we are not doctors, we have no choice but to accept that two respected pathologists have come to different conclusions about a secondary contributing cause of death.
However, the family would like to address the findings of prescription and non-prescription drugs in Andy's system. Andy was prescribed Xanax and Zolpidem (Ambien) to treat anxiety and occasional insomnia -- a result of a bipolar disorder diagnosed by his family doctor at age 18. This is when Andy first began experiencing episodes of manic highs and depressive lows. The family believes Andy was in some denial about the severity of his chemical imbalance and tended to blame his mood swings on himself and his own weaknesses, choosing to self-medicate with recreational drugs.
Members of his family, close friends, and an industry sponsor intervened over the years to help Andy get clean, but the effort to find balance in his life was certainly complicated by his chemical makeup.