TOLEDO, Ohio — For Nancy Wells, the journey to Toledo for the Glass City Marathon from Avon, Ohio, is an event she has always looked forward to.
"I love the Glass City race, it's top-notch," she said. "I got my first Boston qualifier there so it has a special place in my heart."
Wells, an experienced runner competing in the half-marathon, has raced in 41 half-marathons and 24 full-marathons in her life.
But at this year's race, she just felt a bit different.
"I said I'm just not feeling this, I think I'm going to just call it quits, and he (Nancy's husband, Scott) said don't push it,' Wells said. "I remember making this turn right, and that's it. The next thing I remember was waking up in a hospital room."
Wells ended up going into cardiac arrest and had just moments to spare.
However, she was kept alive thanks to the efforts of bystanders, who administered CPR and gave her enough time until paramedics could respond.
"That's the best case scenario that can happen is someone with cardiac arrest, administered immediate bystander CPR by someone who is trained to do it," said Dr. Imad Hariri, a cardiologist with ProMedica who was on Wells' case.
For Hariri, seeing such a healthy person have a heart attack, bounce back and make a full recovery is a pleasant surprise.
Hariri said approximately 90% of cases involving out-of-hospital cardiac arrest result in death.
"The fact that she was able to come back and have intact brain function and heart function is definitely something she can cherish for a long time," he said.
Nancy and Scott Wells consider themselves lucky and are thankful to still be together, especially after the couple celebrated their 28th wedding anniversary the day prior to her cardiac arrest.
"The gratitude is unbelievable and we can't thank the people enough for what they've done to save Nancy's life, literally saved her life out there in the race that day," Scott said.
She now has to wait a year until she can race again, but has her sights set on returning to the course in Toledo.
"I can't think of a better race to come back to than the Glass City half (marathon)," she said.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of a name.