Surfing champion Andy Irons, who passed away unexpectedly in November at age 32, died from a heart attack caused by the hardening of his coronary arteries, his family said in a press release on Thursday.
The three-time world champion was on his way home to Hawaii after withdrawing from a contest in Puerto Rico when he was found dead in a Dallas hotel room November 2.
Irons had been suffering from dengue fever, a tropical illness whose symptoms include severe headaches and joint pain, according to his family.
The long-awaited toxicology reports and an autopsy – which were put off while his widow Lyndie Dupuis was pregnant with their son Andy Axel, born Dec. 8 – showed that dengue fever did not result in Iron's death, according to CNN.
"A plaque of this severity, located in the anterior descending coronary artery, is commonly associated with sudden death," Dr. Vincent Di Maio, a forensic pathologist, explained to the family, according to the press release. "The only unusual aspect of the case is Mr. Irons' age, 32 years old."
While Di Maio told the family no other factor contributed to his death, the official toxicology report and autopsy from the Tarrant County Medical Examiner lists a second cause of death as "acute mixed drug ingestion."
However, Di Maio believes most of the drugs found in Irons' system, including Xanax and Methadone, were at therapeutic levels. Also found in his system was Benzoylecgonine, which is often tested for when conducting cocaine urinalysis. A toxicologist that the family consulted said the levels of Benzoylecgonine were "consistent with the use of cocaine at about 30 hours prior to his death."
The report also shows trace amounts of methamphetamine in Irons' system. Dupuis insists her husband did not use methamphetamine, "so it is likely the substance was present in the cocaine he ingested."
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