Although rare in runners, sudden cardiac arrest is often fatal. But what is being done to prevent it?
All Richard Moore remembers was feeling relaxed.
It was 2022, and he was 400 metres from the finish line of the renowned Blackpool Marathon.
The next thing he knew, he was waking up in hospital — six or seven hours later.
“I initially thought I’d been hit by a car or I’d fallen over the seawall, every kind of incident that may have happened rather than I’ve had a heart attack,” he said.
What Moore — a self-employed graphic designer from Southport — had experienced was a sudden cardiac arrest, when the heart abruptly and unexpectedly stops beating. This means that blood is no longer being pumped around the body, including to the brain. If left untreated, death can ensue in minutes.
Read the full story on Shorthand: https://schoolofjournalism.shorthandstories.com/combatting-sudden-cardiac-arrest-in-runners-one-step-at-a-time/index.html
