Coble required quadruple bypass surgery

Former Columbia Mayor Bob Coble remained hospitalized Thursday after undergoing quadruple bypass surgery.

No updates on his condition were provided beyond a mid-morning statement from son Daniel that the family was grateful for doctors at Providence Hospital who had worked to save Coble’s life.

“While we are not yet out of the woods, we are convinced that with top-notch health care and continued prayer, Mayor Bob will be back to playing with the grandkids — and politicians — soon,” he said.

Longtime ally Kit Smith was among hundreds of citizens and community leaders rooting for Coble’s recovery and hungering for optimistic reports.

Smith said she recently had called to thank Coble after riding through revitalized neighborhoods downtown, near Benedict College and just off Gervais Street.

“Bob should get more credit than he has gotten for some of the economic activity and the hustle-bustle on Main Street and in the Vista,” said Smith, a former member of Richland County Council. “Seeds have to be planted, and he did that in his gentle, kind way.”

Luther Battiste said he went by St. Luke’s Episcopal Church to pray for Coble, his wife, Beth, and their six adult children.

The last time the two of them spoke, Coble shared how much he was enjoying his grandchildren, who call him either “Popsicle” or “Bop.”

“To be the father of such a large family, and then to be a grandfather with so many wonderful grandkids, just makes his life full,” said Battiste, who served with Coble on Columbia City Council.

Coble, mayor from 1990 to 2010, came out of surgery about 1 a.m. Thursday, said John Sowards, chairman of the law firm Nexsen Pruet, where Coble works.

He fell ill Wednesday at the State House complex, where he is a lobbyist, and was taken by ambulance to the hospital.

Friends said Coble had worked hard to establish a healthy lifestyle over the past 10 years or so, eating right, walking for exercise and working with free weights called kettlebells.

It's not unheard of for someone to function well with unrecognized plaque buildup in the four major arteries supplying blood to the heart.

Those patients have what's termed stable coronary disease, said Dr. James Burke, a coronary surgeon at Palmetto Health Heart Hospital. But when the plaque that has slowly built up breaks free, the arteries can quickly clog and require surgery to clear them.

Any number of things can cause the plaque to rupture, and the symptoms can vary tremendously. Most common is discomfort and pressure in the upper chest. But Burke said some people feel it as simple shortness of breath or mistake the symptoms for a bout with acid reflux.

This story was originally published April 16, 2015 at 11:27 AM with the headline "Coble required quadruple bypass surgery."