Doctor stopped running in 10 mile race to save collapsed runner

At the Twin Cities 10 road race in the US last Sunday, Dr.Carl Dean had more to contend with than just finishing the race. Dr.Dean is the chief resident of internal medicine at the Hennepin County Medical Center, Minneapolis. Having started the race at 7am, Dean was making his way from Minneapolis to St. Paul when something caught his eye near mile four on East River Parkway.


"I looked over and heard a guy say, 'I can't feel a pulse,'" Dean told FOX 9 News. "So, I thought this was serious and ran over there. Surprising there wasn't a lot of panic," he said. "Most runners were so focused on the race and trying to keep warm, they didn't see what was going on." Dean quickly did, and he started CPR chest compressions on the fallen runner with the help of some bystanders and a second physician who stopped. The runner appeared to have no pulse and struggled to gasp for air.

Within minutes, marathon medical crews had arrived with an Automated External Defibrillator, or AED. A single shock was all it took to get the man's heart beating properly again. "We think it was probably less than three to four minutes from the time went down to the time the guy went down to the time the AED was on him," Dr. Bill Roberts, marathon medical director, estimated. Roberts praised the first responders for their quick-thinking, and Dean didn't just stop after the work was done. He went on to complete the 10-mile course -- although, he asks that no one will look up his finishing time.

The annual marathon has a Runners Helping Runners program, which means that Dean and the others who stopped to render aid will get free entry into next year's race.