Posted by Jmclark73 on 01/30/2020
5.23.15 Soldier Field 10 mile run SCA survivor

I was an experienced runner, having run the Chicago Marathon three times along with several other races. On May 23rd, 2015 I was running alongside my brother in the Soldier Field 10 mile race. It was a perfect weather day and I felt great. Six miles into the race along Lake Michigan I suddenly felt a "thump" in my chest that felt very unusual. I stepped off the race path into the grass. I clearly remember getting light headed and dizzy, but not feeling any pain. I bent over putting my hands on my knees and then...lights out. I don't even remember hitting the ground. My next memory is coming back to consciousness and being very confused looking at the sky while also in an immense amount of pain in my chest, specifically my rib cage, while on a gurney being loaded into an ambulance. While being transported to the University of Chicago Hospital, I was informed by the EMT's that the reason I was there is that I had a sudden cardiac arrest and needed CPR and AED to save my life. I later learned that a physician (who requested to remain anonymous, so I have never been able to thank him) just happened to be also running in the race and started CPR on me immediately. I also fell just feet away from the aid station that had an AED onsite. I read the 10% survivor statistics and think about how lucky I am to still be here. While in U of C Hospital, I had every test imaginable and they could not find out why this happened. I received a Boston Scientific S-ICD device, which i still have implanted in me.

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