Oct. 03--Firefighters are crediting a quick-thinking nurse for helping to save a runner who collapsed near the end of the Dodge San Jose Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon on Sunday.
A 40-year-old man was about one-tenth of a mile short of finishing the race in downtown San Jose when he fell to the ground around 10:15 a.m. A Stanford Hospital nurse, who was either running in the race or watching it, sprang into action and immediately gave CPR to the man, who was not breathing and had no pulse, said fire Capt. Mary Gutierrez.
An ambulance crew that had been staging at the race followed suit, and by the time the runner was loaded into the back of the ambulance he was awake and talking in Vietnamese to the paramedics, Gutierrez said.
"CPR is what saves lives," Gutierrez said. "The fact that it was done quickly was probably what saved that man's life."
It's unclear why the runner collapsed, and neither he nor the nurse was identified. Nearly 10,000 people ran or walked in the sixth installment of the 13.1-mile race
Contact Mike Rosenberg at 408-920-5705.
