LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – A Las Vegas runner used a unique method to find the strangers who jumped to his rescue after he collapsed on a Northwest Valley trail.
With decades of training, six Boston Marathons under his belt, and a resting heart rate of only 42, running isn’t only a big part of Phil Young’s life- but he believes it’s responsible for saving it.
“Without running, I would not be here,” Young said.
In mid-March, Young set off for a run at Lone Mountain Trail while training for his seventh Boston Marathon. Only three-quarters of a mile in he stopped to use the restroom, when his world change forever
“I came out of the bathroom and I guess that’s when I died,” he explained.
Young had a heart attack and collapsed. His heart stopped on the trail. Miraculously, he says two air force officers were nearby.
“Talk about the right time, oh my God. I think they’re the ones that saw him fall,” Young’s partner Betsy Vencius shared. “They knew CPR. They knew all the life saving things.”
And Vencius says they weren’t the only ones who jumped in to help. She says one woman even held Young’s hand and head while emergency crews responded.
“The people were at the right place at the right time,” she said.
Young had to undergo open heart surgery, revealing several heart defects and requiring weeks of recovery and cardiac rehab.
While he recovered, Vencius made it her mission to find the “angels” who saved him.
“How do we find these people?” she said. “So my niece said, ‘why don’t you put up a sign?’ And I’m like, ‘oh my God, what a great idea.’”
She posted this sign on Lone Mountain, with a message written by Young himself.
Within only 48 hours, those “angels” responded, sending Young messages of healing and gratitude.
Young and Vencius say the response they received from strangers proved just how many people call Las Vegas home.
“The outpouring of love and support has just been phenomenal, phenomenal. I’m proud to say I live in Vegas, I really am,” Vencius expressed.
Young says he has a plan to meet the two air force men who saved him in the coming weeks.
He says the heart attack revealed heart defects he wouldn’t have otherwise known about. He’s hoping his story serves as a reminder to others to get their hearts checked.
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