Willie Hatchett was eagerly preparing for the start of the Peachtree Road Race, a 10K race to be held in Atlanta on July 4th. Hatchett had run the race almost every year for 20 years and was confident he would make it to the finish line.

The 59-year-old paramedic and former firefighter made his way through the throng of runners to the first mile marker. That was also where Atlanta Police Department Officer Melina Lim was stationed.

While Lim was involved in organizing the event, he also watched his best friend run the race.

First, professional athletes walked past her. As the next wave of runners approached, Ms Lim said to the crowd around her: “My best friend will be here soon. Get ready to make some noise!”

She held up her phone to take a photo of him.

Instead, her screen displayed something alarming.

A man was staggering across the road. His footsteps suddenly stopped. He closed his eyes and fell to the ground. People started tripping over him.

Rim ran across the street to where the man, Hatchet, was lying. She bent down and tried to barricade herself with her body to keep others from hitting him.

She radioed the team to say, “We have a runner.”

Hatchet’s body began to convulse. The rim slipped under his head to protect his feet from the pavement. Blood was gushing from the wound above his left eye. he wasn’t breathing. She started CPR. Three doctors who were participating in the race trotted over to help.

They took turns administering CPR to Hatchett. One of the doctors rushed to a nearby hotel and brought back an automated external defibrillator (also known as an AED) to help restore the heart’s rhythm to normal.

They shocked Hatchet, but he did not react.

They continued CPR and tried the AED for 30 minutes, but were unable to maintain a healthy rhythm.

An ambulance arrived and paramedics rushed Hatchett to the hospital. On the way there, they removed his bib and found emergency contact information he had written on his back.

His wife, Najo Hatchett, was informed that her husband had collapsed during a race and was on his way to the hospital.

More news came when Najo arrived at the hospital. She will not be able to see her husband because he has tested positive for COVID-19.

After returning home, he received a phone call from a doctor who told him, “We need to wake him up before they find out whether he has a brain injury or partial paralysis.”

Around 4am, Willie woke up.

The last thing he remembered was leaving the house and going for a run. One of the first things he asked his doctor was, “Was I able to finish the race?”

Doctors told him he went into cardiac arrest after about a mile.

Cardiac arrest is essentially a cessation of the heart’s electricity. Although it can be caused by a heart attack, it is primarily a plumbing problem. Willie had that. In fact, doctors inserted four stents to unclog his coronary arteries and restore normal blood flow.

EMTs were used to being the ones giving CPR, so the thought of being the one receiving CPR was overwhelming. Moreover, he considered himself healthy.

He was exercising regularly in preparation for a 10km run. Registering for this event gave the former Marine extra motivation to stay in shape throughout the winter and spring.

There were no signs of any problems other than feeling a little unwell a few days before the 2022 race. She later learned that his family had a history of heart disease.

As Willie’s care progressed, Lim wondered about his fate.

The last thing she saw was him leaving in an ambulance. Without information, she feared the worst.

Then she remembered something. It’s about her own body camera. It captured his race bib information. She uses it to learn his name and eventually gets to Willy.

“You are a survivor,” she told him.

She then told him of the promise she had made after watching the ambulance take him away.

Although she had never been a runner, she vowed, “If he runs the race, I’ll run the race next year.”

A few months later, Willy tested his integrity.

“Registration is open. Let’s do Peachtree together,” he told her.

She was trying her best.

So did the three doctors who saved his life.

Willie was not cleared to run the 2023 race, but doctors cleared him to walk. There, the group lined up together on a rainy day in July and celebrated the fact that Willie had taken another shot at the goal line.

This time he remembers exactly what happened.

“We finished that race,” Willie said. “There were lots of hugs and cheers along the way.”

He said, “There’s a reason I had to stay here. I’m going to keep moving forward and keep sharing my story and hope it helps someone else survive.” He said he believed it.

Stories from the Heart chronicles the inspiring journeys of heart disease and stroke survivors, caregivers, and supporters.