Medics in Marathon Save Cardiac Arrest Victim

Video: Watch interviews with the rescuers, courtesy of WUSA9.com.

WASHINGTON -- Two runners suffered apparent heart attacks during the Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday -- one died, but the other said he was extremely lucky to be in good company.

Earl Seyford of Olney, Md., died after collapsing near the 17-mile mark.

R. J. Turner, of Winchester, Va., went down just after he started the race, but credits his survival to the runners who just happened to be around him.

When Turner collapsed during the race, fellow runners -- who happened to be a heart surgeon, a nurse, and two paramedics -- rushed to his side.

"I was all ready to go, had trained 1,300 miles," said Turner. "Within a thousand feet, I looked up at an overpass and the people up there, and that's the last thing I remember."

Turner went into cardiac arrest just as he started his 10th Marine Corps Marathon on his 60th birthday.

"I felt like someone hit me on the back of the head with a baseball bat," Turner said.

In the crush of runners behind Turner were a nurse, two paramedics and doctor Fred Lough, who just happens to be the director of cardiac surgery at George Washington University Hospital.

Lough said he saw Turner on the ground and wasn't sure what happened.

"Has he fallen, hit his head? Is he having a cardiac event? Has he had a seizure? We all fall back on ABCs -- airway, breathing, circulation -- and the first was to maintain an airway," said Lough.

Lough said that keeping Turner's airway clear was a challenge because his mouth was bloodied from the fall.

But, it just so happened that Prince George's County firefighter and paramedic Jaime Joroff had a portable CPR mask.

The device is not something the average runner carries, Joroff said, but in an effort to raise extra money for charity she agreed to run the marathon in her firefighting gear.

"I emptied all my pockets to make the jacket lighter, but I ended up putting my CPR mask back in just on chance on the way out the door. So, I had that in my pocket," Joroff said.

The group did CPR on Turner until an ambulance arrived. Turner was then rushed to G. W. University Hospital where he was treated for a narrowed artery.

Turner said the marathon didn't go exactly has planned and it wasn't the ideal way to spend a 60th birthday, but he considers himself a lucky man.

"When I fell down, they were right there immediately. I couldn't have planned it better, I certainly wouldn't have planned it," said Turner.

Turner said he hopes to get out of the hospital by Wednesday, and that he plans to run again. But, he said, next time he'll carry a card with information about who to contact during an emergency.

Turner's wife was along the marathon route waiting with water and bananas and said she became worried when he didn't show up. Doctors couldn't call her until her husband regained consciousness.