ANN ARBOR, Mich. (WXYZ) — University of Michigan freshman Ethan King said he is thankful to be alive after two bystanders jumped into action recently to help save his life.
On Aug. 26, King said he went on a run in Burns Park with M-Run, a running group that is part of the university. While on the run, King collapsed after suffering cardiac arrest.
"I was running right around here when I stumbled and fell down," King said.
King said it is something he never thought would happen to him, especially at 18 years old with no known underlying health conditions.
"I had never heard of someone who's 18 and a runner with nothing else going on having something like this happen," King said.
He said part of the reason he is standing here now is because of Hannah Stovall, a senior at Michigan.
"I saw Ethan on the ground and it wasn't anything that I had to think about; it was just something that my body knew to do," Stovall said.
She was on her way back to campus from Burns park with her friends when she stopped to give King CPR.
"I did what I had been trained to do and luckily, the EMS were super close and Dr. Dimcheff was also really close," Stovall said.
Dr. Derek Dimcheff was another bystander who jumped into action to help King. He said he was passing through the park to pick up his son for dinner.
"I saw a group of people administering CPR to what turned out to be Ethan on the ground and because EMS hasn't arrived, the emergency medical services, I pulled over and helped out," Dimcheff said.
Dimcheff just so happens to be on the code team at a nearby hospital. He said he responds to cardiac arrests often, but his patients are usually much older than King.
"It's very rare. This is a very rare situation," Dimcheff said.
Now, all three of them are urging everyone to learn CPR just in case.
"I wasn't on the run. I hadn't known anybody. I was doing something completely different. And I think that is more likely when somebody would need to do it is when they're not expecting to do it," Stovall said.
"It's kind of surreal to think about that I'm standing right next to two people who made the difference and are the reason why I'm able to stand here today," King said.
