‘I blacked out’: Student who collapsed during Birmingham race completes half marathon

A student has completed his first half marathon since he collapsed from a sudden cardiac arrest during the Birmingham Half Marathon on Sunday 4th May.

A fellow runner performed CPR on the Master’s student after he collapsed less than a kilometre from the finish line.

Joshua Breene, who studies at the University of Bath, had no previous history of heart problems before the event.

The student was saved by Lloyd Heckler, a 31-year-old physiotherapist, who performed CPR until paramedics arrived and took Joshua to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where Lloyd works.

Joshua was diagnosed with atrium flutter, which causes the upper chambers of the heart to beat too quickly.

He underwent surgery to correct the problem and stayed in hospital for six days.

‘I should probably stop running’

Speaking to PA Real Life, Joshua said: “I suddenly became the most lightheaded I’ve ever been and I knew something wasn’t right.”

He added: “I realised … I should probably stop running. That was the last thing I remember before I blacked out.”

He had never encountered any issues on the”plenty of runs” he completed in preparation for the half marathon.

The Bath student was “feeling good” before he felt lightheadedness around 10 seconds before the sudden cardiac arrest.

Lloyd had finished the race but was returning to the course to support his girlfriend when he was made aware of the medical emergency.

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He recalled the “daunting experience” that “happened very quickly”.

“He was unconscious”, Lloyd said. “He’d fallen onto his face and smashed up a load of his teeth, and he was covered in blood.”

After wondering what had happened to Joshua, Lloyd found his Strava profile and visited him in hospital.

Joshua was discharged on Friday 9th May but it took three months for him to get the clearance for “very light exercise”.

‘You just never know when you might need to do it’

Joshua remains undeterred from his running endeavours and asked his consultant if he could potentially take part in the Bath Half Marathon.

He was advised to “build it up slowly” and get any signs of struggle checked out.

The student successfully completed the race on Sunday 15th March, raising money for the British Heart Foundation.

The charity wants as many people to learn CPR as possible, with Lloyd describing it as “a life-saving skill, it’s easy to learn, and you just never know when you might need to do it”.

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Featured images before edits via Tony Hisgett and Elliott Brown on Wikimedia Commons