February is Heart Month, and Shishir Lakhani is tasked with inspiring the legions of volunteers that help the Heart and Stroke Foundation raise money and awareness. He already isn’t shy about reminding people of the severe blockages in his arteries and the harsh reality of living with cardiac problems.

But this year may be particularly difficult for the 62-year-old retired Richmond Hill entrepreneur. Lakhani lost his mother to a stroke in January. True to form, he used the tragedy as a cautionary tale for those around him.

“I ran into my cousin, who I have not seen in 50 years, at the funeral,” said Lakhani. “He was consoling me, and I asked him, ‘Why are you carrying all this excess weight?’ He said, ‘Oh I’m fine. I’m perfectly healthy.’”

Like many of the 160,000 the Heart and Stroke Foundation projects will suffer a heart attack, heart failure or stroke this year, Lakhani felt fine until a routine stress test. “The doctor yelled ‘Stop! Stop! Stop!’ as alarms blared in the exam room,” Lakhani said. Decades in the high-stress manufacturing sector had silently taken their toll.

“I lost my hero and best friend, my dad, when he was only 51,” said Lakhani, now the southern York Region chapter president of the Heart and Stroke Foundation. “We were just beginning to be close friends when I lost him.”

The number of Canadians who will experience heart disease weighs heavily on him. Worst of all, he knows it’s preventable, so Lakhani refuses to leave his work behind the podium. “Every time I walk into an office building, I see 20 people standing outside puffing away. I have a sense of humor, so I tap them on the shoulder and say, ‘Hey, how long have you been suicidal?’ ”