Runner who collapsed at New Year’s Eve Run meets life-saver
Kate Lloyd, a resident of Dearborn Heights and RN at a Department of Corrections facility in Ypsilanti, smiles after finishing the New Year’s Day Run — and helping save a fellow runner’s life.
The last thing David Gallagher remembers about the 54th annual Belle Isle New Year’s Eve Run/Walk is chatting with running buddies and Jeanne Bocci, the woman who began the run with her friends in 1970.
“That’s the last thing I remember, nothing else, just before the race,” said David, 66, of Troy, who typically runs on his lunch hour three or four times a week from his medical billing office in Warren and has run the Belle Isle New Year’s Eve 5K every year since 2008. “She said, ‘Good luck guys!’ And I remember waking up at the hospital in the ICU.”
About 2.5 miles into the 3.1-mile run/walk, David had a heart attack due to blockage in two of his coronary vessels. Surrounded by other runners, he fell face-first into the concrete, breaking his nose and lying on the pavement unconscious, his heart stopped.
The person he now calls his hero, Kate Lloyd, 26, of Dearborn Heights, was right behind him. A nurse at the Michigan Department of Corrections, Kate immediately began hands-only CPR – which doctors credit for saving David’s life.
‘They saved my life’
“I’m humbled by everyone’s help,” David said. “I say this to people all the time: Everybody was doing for me what I couldn’t do for myself, whether it was their job or not. I was helpless, and they saved my life. I feel very lucky, very fortunate. I feel very blessed.”
Kate, a seasoned runner who was doing the Belle Isle race for the first time, said there was no question about jumping in to perform hands-only CPR. She’s done it a number of times in her job in the emergency center at the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Ypsilanti. She said she and two other women runners rotated performing CPR for David until the Detroit EMS squad arrived.
“It’s scary, but I think we just need to remember we need to help each other out,” Kate said. “It doesn’t matter who they are: they are a father, grandfather, nephew, good friend to someone. It’s really important to do it; do it for the greater good. Do it for that person to get another chance.”
DMC personnel did their jobs
Detroit EMS brought David to the emergency center at Detroit Medical Center’s Detroit Receiving Hospital, Michigan’s first Level 1 Trauma Center and one of the busiest and most well-equipped emergency departments, training nearly half of practicing emergency medicine physicians in Michigan. There, attending Dr. Candace Kimpson and resident Dr. Thomas Friedlander stabilized and evaluated David, who had blockages in two main vessels to his heart.
At the DMC Heart Hospital, interventional cardiologist Dr. Mosrik Abd Alamir inserted a balloon pump to take over pumping for his heart. Then DMC cardio-thoracic surgeon Dr. Kenton Zehr, Executive Director of the DMC Heart Hospital, performed a double-bypass surgery around the blockages.
“We are thankful to all of the people who worked together to keep David alive so we could perform the bypass,” Dr. Zehr said. “Oftentimes, out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients never get the chance to survive. This is a perfect example of how starting CPR immediately can save a life.”
Defying the odds
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 356,000 people have an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the United States every year, and about 60% to 80% of them die before reaching the hospital.
On Feb. 1 David returned to the DMC Heart Hospital to meet Kate face-to-face for the first time after the race.
Detroit Belle Isle New Year’s Eve Run/Walk Race Director Stephen Moran also presented David with his race medal.
There were more than 1,200 runners and walkers participating in the 2023 Belle Isle New Year’s Even Run, representing four countries, 22 states and 179 cities, benefitting Leader Dogs for the Blind, said race director Stephen Moran.
Community-focused event
“The Belle Isle New Year’s Eve Run has always been about community, and we were very blessed to have such an extraordinary group of people at last year’s event, from Kate Lloyd and the group of runners she was with, to the Detroit EMS, the team at Detroit Medical Center’s Detroit Receiving Hospital and DMC Heart Hospital, Michigan DNR conservation officers, and the race staff located out on the course,” Stephen said.
“We cannot thank everyone enough for their quick actions in saving David’s life.”
David, whose two black eyes were still healing, said that he intends to continue his post-surgery rehab and potentially run or walk the race in 2024.
“That was my most dramatic race finish ever,” he said, chuckling. “Dr. Zehr said I won’t have to give up running, I just have to curb it back a little. I think I’ll take up walking for a year or two, then see where I’m at.”
Thank you to Detroit Medical Center Communications & Media Relations Manager Tammy Battaglia for contributing this amazing story to SocialHouseNews.com.
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