The race was coming to a close.
Bill Amirault could see the finish line in the distance. In just a few moments, the Key West Half Marathon would be over.
Then, all of a sudden, he collapsed.
The sudden cardiac arrest on Jan. 15, 2017, nearly took Amirault’s life. But the 45-year-old runner was lucky: Three medical specialists happened to be nearby and were able to provide him with CPR. Each specialist was able to sustain Amirault before paramedics arrived and he was transported to the hospital, according to a news release.
Amirault wanted to know who the mystery care-givers were. So when he was back home, he took to social media to try to find the medical specialists who saved his life.
“It was the first real [social media] post I ever did and I couldn’t believe that it went viral,” Amirault, of Colorado, said in a news release.
Within a day, Amirault was able to connect with his heroes, he said. They were reunited on the Harry Connick Jr. national talk television show, the news release said. That’s when Amirault established his goal to complete the Key West Half Marathon in 2018.
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On Sunday, Jan. 14, 2018, he did just that. But this time, he was accompanied by one of the specialists that helped save his life.
“It was really cool,” said Amirault, of Colorado, after finishing the race alongside Robbie Ladd, a nurse anesthetist from Hobe Sound, Florida. “Getting across the finish line meant a lot.”
After his heart attack and recovery, Amirault has grown passionate about spreading awareness of CPR and exercise. He now volunteers with the American Heart Association.
