DETROIT (WXYZ) — At mile 24, Kalamazoo runner Patrick Vanderbush said the 47th Detroit Free Press Marathon was shaping up to be absolutely perfect.
"I was focusing on my time and I was landing them, it seemed effortless," said Vanderbush.
He said it was his 13th marathon and his 60th birthday.
"I was looking at my watch and just comforting myself saying ‘I’m right where I want to be, I have an easy two miles left, and in less than an hour I’ll be celebrating my 60th birthday with the family,'" he says.
Right then is when Vanderbush said everything went black, "Everything that happened beyond that point is a complete mystery."
Vanderbush had a heart attack, he was rushed to DMC Heart Hospital in Detroit where a team of medical professionals immediately sprang into action working to save him.
DMC Interventional Cardiologist Dr. Amged Abdelaziz was on that team.
"We really have to be really quick," he told 7 News Detroit. "He came back from basically death."
The team said that Vanderbush had an almost 100% blockage to a significant artery in his heart. They put two stents in to help his blood flow and were able to save him.
DMC cardiology fellow Amanda Sandles said his survival is also thanks to first responders on the scene at the marathon.
"I know they had to shock him at least four times before he got to us and they had to do compressions before he got to us and if they hadn’t done that quick and fast work, he wouldn’t have been able to get to us to do our job either," said Sandles.
Vanderbush said, "Infinitely grateful just doesn’t seem like it scratches the surface of what I really want to convey."
Feeling good now, Vanderbush said he does plan to run another marathon one day, he also joked that after everything, he did get two stents for his birthday.
In fact, he said he named them, "They are Windsor and Ambassador."
At the end of Thursday, he was also given a marathon finisher's medal from the Director of the Detroit Free Press Marathon.
After Vanderbush joked, "So my previous PR took me over 5 hours to earn, this one breaks the record by another 67 hours."
