About 92-percent of sudden cardiac arrest victims die before reaching the hospital, but statistics prove that more lives could be saved if more people knew CPR.
Sudden cardiac death -- it is as scary as it sounds. Your heart just completely stops for no reason.
"I felt great through the first mile," said Tony Lindeman.
For Tony, this was his third Akron marathon, eighth marathon of his life. "After the second mile I lost all memory I don't know what happened."
Those who witnessed it said Tony ran to the sidewalk and collapsed on his face. When he came to he was in the emergency room at Akron City Hospital.
Tony said, "When the nurse came into the room, told me today was the luckiest day of my life."
He hadn't suffered a heart attack, but sudden cardiac death. Where basically the electrical signal to his heart just stopped.
"98% of the people that come in with a heart problem they can find and diagnose the problem. And the other 2%, a group that they aren't sure what happened and I fell into that category," said Tony.
Among the 13,000 runners, Tony just happen to be running next to Heather Pariso, whom he'd never met. "Luckily I was running next to a nurse who saw me go down and immediately began CPR."
In fact, there were some four or five medical professionals who saw him go down and helped with CPR until paramedics arrived with a defibrillator, and then got him to the hospital.
It was the quick action that saved this father of two.
"It's just a big thank you. There's really no other word to say. People need to know that you can save a life with CPR, but you need to make sure you do it fast when you see something happen and make sure you're doing it correctly."
Tony's cardiac arrest happened outside with a lot of people around, but 88-percent of cardiac arrests occur at home where less people are typically around.
And much like Tony, many of these victims appear healthy with no known heart disease or other risk factors. All are great reasons for more of us - especially family members - to learn CPR.
Here's a link to the American Heart Association's website to learn more about CPR.
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