DETROIT – Patrick Vanderbush is blessed to still be alive after suffering a heart attack during the Detroit Free Press Marathon.
“To say it was an amazing feeling and that I’m infinitely grateful just doesn’t even seem like it really scratches the surface of what I really want to convey,” said Vanderbush at DMC hospital.
Vanderbush said he thanked all the doctors at DMC who helped him recover and all the people who ensured he got the care he needed on Wednesday (Oct. 23).
“First of all, the city of Detroit, thank you,” Vanderbush said. “Thank you to the Free Press Marathon.
Although Vanderbush doesn’t remember a thing about collapsing, the scars from the fall are very telling. The only thing he recalls is making it to mile 24 of the run before waking up in the hospital sometime later.
“With two miles left, looking at my watch, I was comforting myself, saying, ‘I’m right where I want to be, and I have an easy two miles left,’“ Vanderbush said. ”Everything that happened beyond that point is a complete mystery. The next thing I remember I was laying on my back, opening my eyes, and looking at the ceiling of the fifth floor of the DMC.
Vanderbush is a very experienced runner from Kalamazoo. He has participated in 12 marathons in the past and even chose to run in the Detroit Free Press Marathon on his 60th birthday.
But if it wasn’t for the medical staff at the race getting to CPR immediately, chances are high that Patrick wouldn’t have survived to run another.
“The quick thinking, moving, and responding in the field is what allowed him to get to the hospital in order to be saved in the capacity that he was,” said Amanda Sandles with DMC.
The head of the Free Press Marathon also honored Vanderbush with a keepsake he would have received if he had finished the race.
Believe it or not, Vanderbush says he wants to run another marathon, of course, with his doctor’s approval.