A Virginia man celebrated the completion of a race he started 50 days ago on Sunday.
Bill Hughes had participated in the Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10K race last month, but suffered a cardiac arrest in the middle of the race.
He survived thanks to immediate CPR from his daughter and strangers nearby.
After Hughes was released from the hospital, he said he felt compelled to finish the race.
“When I start to do something I want to finish it and I just felt bad that I hadn’t finished,” Hughes told ABC affiliate WRIC-TV.
Hughes completed the race this weekend with his daughter and the strangers who had saved his life, and he used the opportunity to draw attention to the importance of CPR.
He was joined by members of the Richmond Ambulance Authority, who were there to encourage people to learn CPR.
Hughes wasn’t just motivated by what had happened to himself, but also by the death of his brother.
“I think back to five years ago when my brother died from a heart attack,” Hughes said. “If more people had of known how to do CPR back then, could he have been rescued?”“I am just so blessed it all worked out as quickly and efficiently as it did,” he told Richmond.com. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you.”
