Teenager Saves His Dad’s Life After He Collapses During Half Marathon

What an amazing tale! Teenager Saves His Dad’s Life After He Collapses During Half Marathon

Rafael and Isaac Ruggieri, a father and son team, were approaching the 8-mile mark of the 2024 Illinois Half Marathon last month when Rafael’s heart stopped and he fell to the concrete. Isaac told WCCU/WICS News, “I thought he just passed out. He went on his knees and then on his hands and then onto his face.” Rafael had already run the full marathon twice and the half marathon twice without incident. Rafael had had a few episodes of fainting during his training for this year’s race, but tests performed by his doctors revealed no abnormalities.

Thankfully, 18-year-old Isaac had just finished a lifeguarding course the previous week and had received CPR training, so he acted right away. Upon determining that his father was not breathing and checking his pulse, he asked an onlooker to phone 911 and started performing chest compressions. “I completed it just now. Since I thought, “All right, now is the time to go.” He told WCCU/WICS, “This is it: save your dad or he dies.” “I was only depending on my experience, and my main goal was to assist him as much as I could. I therefore wasn’t really considering my feelings or anything else.

The father of five, who is still recovering, told his local news station that his oldest son’s actions saved his life and that he feels almost normal again. Rafael, a general surgeon at Christie Clinic, is even more convinced that more people should know how to perform CPR after his near-death experience during the race. “It is imperative to provide prompt and effective CPR,” he declared. “This is my eighteen-year-old son, and he and a few others were able to save my life.” Rafael has an exercise-induced cardiac arrest, though the exact cause of his condition is still unknown. He’s back to running and now carries a defibrillator in case his heart stops again.

An amazing story!  You can read the original article here.

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