He took this selfie and five minutes later he was fighting for his life

A man whose heart stopped for eight minutes while training for a marathon said it was “the luckiest run to die on”.

Fitness instructor Grant Williams, from Woolton, was training for the Manchester Marathon on March 9, 2024, when his heart stopped for eight minutes. He was 11 miles into his 12 mile run when he suffered a cardiac arrest on Smithdown Road.

The eight-person group Grant was training with didn’t hesitate to begin CPR. An off-duty nurse and doctor also happened to pass by and the 53-year-old collapsed just across the road from a defibrillator, which helped save his life.

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Grant, who is fit and healthy, was out for a run with members of his fitness class, NG-UP Active, when he went into cardiac arrest. He told the ECHO: “We train every Saturday, just the Saturday before I did a 19 mile run.

“So on March 9th we were only going to do a 12 mile route. We just stopped to take a picture, we were about 11 miles near Smithtown and then I just don’t remember anything.

“I had a cardiac arrest – your heart stops and you can’t feel or see anything – I went into (cardiac) arrest twice at the bottom of Smithtown Road and I don’t remember falling, hearing voices, seeing someone, I can” I don’t remember CPR or shock from defibrillators, I was lucky that the group I was with immediately started CPR.

Luckily for him, Dr Melanie Hamilton was cycling home from her night shift at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital when she noticed a group of people huddled around Grant, who was ‘fighting for his life’, and sprang into action .

Melanie took over CPR and brought Grant back. But then he went into a second cardiac arrest, luckily a second off-duty doctor who had been getting a haircut at a nearby barber shop rushed to help. Medics used a defibrillator from a nearby Tesco to save his life.

Grant said: “The first doctor, called Mel, cycled over and got on with CPR, one of the group I was with called the ambulance and two of them went to Tesco on Greenbank to see if they had a defibrillator. When the defib came back there was another male doctor called Joe – who was getting his hair cut at the barbers opposite – he took Mel over as she was tired from the CPR compressions and then the defibs got on me the ambulance came .

“I came in an ambulance. They took me to the hospital and stabilized me – they said I needed a quadruple heart bypass.

“You just think about the dark and when you come back you’re sedated and relaxed, only to start getting all the messages asking how you are or what I can do for you. And, recovery from surgery is not. It’s not very pleasant, especially when you want to train, but I looked at it as another challenge.”

Grant was released from the hospital on March 31 and has already started light training. He plans to run the Newport Marathon in Wales next year to raise money for Liverpool Heart & Chest Hospital, which helped him in his recovery. He also aimed to raise awareness of the importance of CPR training and defibrillators.

He said: “The gym where I do my fitness classes, The Training Station in Wavertree, has now bought a defibrillator for the gym and two of the members have run a defib and CPR training class to raise awareness and show people how to use them.

“From first-hand experience, I think they (defibrillators) should be in every gym and every place of business because they are so important.”

Grant added: “I’ve started running and training again, we’re going to do the Newport Marathon in my home town. I’m way behind again now and I need to pick myself up. I met the doctors who saved me too. now they have signed up to run the marathon with us next year, there are about 40 people from my gym who are doing it.

“We have also done a lot of fundraising, raising £900 in one night and holding a black tie event in November from which we hope to raise up to £7,000. We are blessed in Liverpool with the hospitals we have, the Heart & Chest Hospital has been phenomenal and they will get their money back.”

Grant is on the way to a full recovery and wants to give a special thank you to those who helped save his life, he said: “It’s so good to be back. I’m a mentally strong person, but when you go from working out twice a day to your heart stopping and you think oh my God, for me it was hereditary – my dad had a heart attack at 40 and 43 years – but they (doctors) said I was in active form. cardiac arrest for about ten years. It’s so important for people to keep fit, whether it’s just walking.

“During the runs, it’s the luckiest run to ever die because there was a defibrillator across the road, medics nearby and a group with me starting CPR. It was so lucky, I thank my lucky stars I’m here.

“I want to thank the runners who stood by me, the two doctors who came to help and the Heart & Chest Hospital for being so good at what they do. There is an importance of both training CPR and having defib there. .”

Grant is also appealing to any small businesses who want to donate to his black tie event he is hosting in November to contact him on Instagram.

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