BIDDEFORD — About two years ago, Saco resident Wallace Nutting noticed that he was having difficulty walking his dog.

“I started to feel out of breath,” said the 82-year-old.

This was disconcerting for the retired, four-star general who said he had been active all his life.

Until he became mayor of Biddeford, from 2003-07, he said he was an avid skier and tennis player.

Over a few months, Nutting’s condition worsened to the point where he became out of breath walking across a room.

Finally, in August 2011, he made an appointment with SMMC PrimeCare cardiologist Dr. Shabbir Reza.

Reza diagnosed Nutting with cardiomyopathy.

The condition was caused by a virus similar to one that causes the common cold. It attacked and weakened Nutting’s heart, said Reza. It reduced his respiratory activity to 18 on a scale that goes to 55. The average rate is 35 to 40, said the doctor.

Reza began treating Nutting with medication, and there was some improvement.

Then in January 2012, Nutting began an exercise regimen at Southern Maine Medical Center’s Cardiopulmonary Gym.

The three months working out at the gym, which included walking on a treadmill and performing strength training exercises, “made all the difference in the world,” said Nutting.

The staff was very cheery and helpful, he said, and he recommends that all who qualify to utilize the gym do so.

“Exercise is important for everybody,” said Reza. “I recommend it to everybody.”

“A body is like a machine,” he said. “If you don’t use it, it gets rusty.”

Exercise is especially important for those with cardiopulmonary conditions, said Reza.

Exercise can improve heart capacity by 50 percent, he said.

“No medication does that,” said Reza.

Nutting’s wife, Jane, said when she saw her husband getting weaker, she had never been more concerned.

“It’s amazing,” she said, about how much he’s improved since he began his exercise program.

While he no longer qualifies to attend the cardiopulmonary gym at SMMC, said Nutting, he is continuing an exercise program on his own and continues to improve.

SMMC’s Cardiopulmonary Gym opened in July 2009, according to Sue Hadiaris, vice president of planning and development, as a result of a $1.4 million gift from Dorothy Suzi Osher.

This was “the single largest donation in the history of the medical center, which enabled the construction of a state-of-the-art fitness center named in honor of (Osher’s) parents, Joseph A. and Anna Marie Petrin, who were lifelong residents of the Biddeford community,” said Hadiaris. “Mrs. Osher wanted patients to have a place that was cheerful, bright and comfortable to receive medically supervised cardiac rehabilitation, which would improve their quality of life.”

The SMMC PrimeCare Cardiology practice has received accreditation for heart and stroke care by the National Committee for Quality Assurance, it has received the Bridges to Excellence highest rating for cardiac care, and was awarded the highest rating in cardiac care by the Maine Health Management Coalition.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.