“If I'd been running alone, I wouldn't be here today,” Greg Woodman tells Inside Edition.
A 65-year-old man training for the Boston marathon collapsed during his run after suffering a heart attack, but luckily for him two ER nurses were nearby and jumped into action to save him.
Greg Woodman, 65, was only a few minutes into a half marathon in Pennsylvania when he suffered a massive heart attack.
Running in the same race as Woodman were two ER nurses and other health care professionals who witnessed him go down.
“He was definitely dead at that time,” one of the rescuers tells Inside Edition.
Without the quick and persistent actions of the nearby health professionals, Woodman probably wouldn’t be alive today.
The two nurses along with the other health care workers took turns doing chest compressions and bystanders helped keep count for them before EMS arrived.
“I started compressions right there, I felt like I broke every rib in his chest. Honestly it made me sick to my stomach but I said I have to do what I have to do,” one of the health professionals say.
After six minutes, Woodman’s heart finally began to beat on its own again while in an ambulance on its way to the hospital.
“If I'd been running alone, I wouldn't be here today,” Woodman tells Inside Edition.
The lucky runner and his wife got to meet his heroes in person to thank them for saving his life. The group shared many hugs and passed tearful thank you’s.
“It doesn't always end this way for a lot of people and the fact that he is able to be here with his wife and his sons, there's no words that can describe that,” one of Woodman's heroes says through tears.
It has now been two months since the heart attack and after going through cardio rehab and two stents, Woodman is back to running. He is also telling folks to learn CPR as it saved his life.
“I was so blessed that they stopped from running and instinctively came in and saved me, Ninety percent don't come back,” Woodman says.
