This article originally appeared on November 24, 2022 in The Washington Post by Kelyn Soong. Please read the full article here.
Steven Lome, a cardiologist and distance runner, had never witnessed anybody experience a cardiac arrest during a road race. Nor did he expect to use his professional skills outside work.
But while running the Monterey Bay Half Marathon in California on Nov. 13, Lome saw not one, but two runners collapse on the course, and he performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on both. The two runners, men in their 50s and 60s, survived and are expected to make full recoveries…
When Lome saw the first runner, 67-year-old Greg Gonzales of Vancouver, Wash., collapse about 30 feet in front of him around the third mile of the race, he assessed that it “wasn’t just a simple fainting spell or trip.”
Lome started chest compressions “within a minute” of Gonzales collapsing and said someone had called 911. He added that within a few minutes, paramedics arrived with a defibrillator. The American Heart Association recommends hands-only CPR, which instructs the person giving chest compressions to push hard and fast in the center of the patient’s chest…
Lome continued with his race after helping Gonzales and finished the half marathon in 2 hours 30 minutes 32 seconds. Then he saw the second runner, 56-year-old Michael Heilemann of San Anselmo, Calif., collapse right past the finish line. Lome started chest compressions. A race volunteer brought an AED “within one to two minutes,” he said.
Heilemann woke up after one shock, Lome said…
“The finish line is a relatively common area for cardiac events,” said John Ellison, the medical director for the Monterey Bay Half Marathon and the Big Sur International Marathon.
Ellison credited the people around for saving the lives of the runners. “The ultimate treatment for cardiac arrest isn’t CPR, it’s defibrillation, it’s getting electricity in the chest to restart the heart,” he said. “And the CPR is important to preserve brain function and keep that blood flowing in the meantime.”
