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2 8 - 0 1 - 2 0 0 5 Heart attack kills GI in Iraq
Longtime bodybuilder, reservist sent overseas in October
KYTJA WEIR
Almost four months into his tour in Iraq, a 42-year-old Mooresville man died Monday while working at a prison camp. The former bodybuilder and competitive weightlifter apparently suffered a fatal heart attack, according to his ex-wife.
Leonard Adams, known to all as Len, had served in the reserves for 22 years and already passed his retirement mark, said Jana Adams, his first wife of 14 years. In all those years, he'd never been deployed overseas. Then on Oct. 6 he was shipped to Iraq.
"I didn't want him to go. Nobody wanted him to go," Jana Adams said. "He said it was time to earn the pay he'd earned all those years." The father of three -- two biological children and one stepdaughter -- was assigned to the Army National Guard's 105th Military Police Battalion, 18th Military Police Brigade, out of Asheville, according to the Department of Defense.
He worked at Camp Bucca, a detention center trying to overcome the notoriety of Abu Ghraib.
Though thousands of miles away from his two families in Mooresville, he regularly e-mailed photographs of palaces, palm trees and even a row of about 20 portable toilets -- noting the third from the right was his favorite, Jana Adams said.
The last time he spoke to his kids was on Saturday night. He regaled them with stories about unexpected cold weather, a new Subway shop that opened at the camp and his daily workouts. He also spoke to his son about Cub Scouts.
There was no indication of heart problems, Jana Adams said. His current wife, Michelle Adams, could not be reached for comment. Jana Adams said that around midnight overseas -- late Sunday afternoon in Mooresville -- pains apparently started his chest. He collapsed and was airlifted to a hospital, she said.
He didn't drink or smoke, Jana Adams said.
He also worked out often, having run Adams Fitness Center in Mooresville from 1986 until 1994. Though he most recently worked on the factory line at Freightliner, he kept up his exercise.
And at one point, the man who was 5 foot 9 inches in his tennis shoes could bench-press 505 pounds, Jana Adams said.
She said she never knew of any heart problems, but he suffered from sleep apnea, a condition in which people stop breathing repeatedly during their sleep.
The disorder eventually can lead to congestive heart failure and strokes. But Adams had started using a machine last summer to help fight the disorder, his ex-wife said. He'd told the family he hadn't slept as well in years. He even took the machine with him overseas.
"When they came to my door and they said he had passed away, my first impression was how? He was in a safe place, a prison," Jana Adams said. "When they said `heart attack,' I said, `You have the wrong guy.' "
Survivors include his wife, Michelle Adams; a son, Brandon, 10; a daughter Lauren, 14; and a stepdaughter, Taylor, a fourth-grader. Cavin-Cook Funeral Home is handling the arrangements, but they remained incomplete as of Tuesday evening.
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[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
