Meath athlete who died while running completes half marathon

Louise Walsh

An athlete who died for four minutes while out running, completed the Dublin City half marathon on Sunday saying: "there's that much stuff going on in your head when you're running anyway that you don't have time to think about dying again."

Noel Williamson finished the race alongside his 21-year old daughter Áine and is now in training to take part in his first ever Dublin city marathon in October.

The 60 year old was training for the marathon last year and was after running almost 13km at his club, St Andrew's AC in Ashbourne, Co. Meath when he suffered a massive heart attack and had to be resuscitated by club members last July

"Seemingly I went to the side of the track, got down on my hands and knees and fell over. But I don't remember any of that. I actually lost recollection of a total of five days," said the plasterer.

"I was dead. My heart stopped for four minutes. I had a Garmin watch on and it showed that my heart had stopped".

Thankfully, there were other athletes there who ran to Noel's aid and managed to perform CPR until the ambulance arrived and he was rushed to hospital where he eventually underwent a quadruple heart bypass, once stable.

"I should be dead now but it obviously wasn't my time," said Noel who has since slowly built up his fitness again with the aid of medics in the Heart House in Dublin, which ironically is where he parked on Sunday to participate in the marathon.

"I was scared to run again but I was in Rehabilitation for a few months and you have to trust the medics. I slowly, slowly built myself back up to running.

"I ran 100 miles in February for the Irish Heart Foundation and for the Mater Hospital but I ran it in 18 days because I ran 10km each day. On the last day, I had about 50 people from my club running behind me, which was so lovely."

Now that he has completed the half marathon, he is in training for his first marathon, in aid of the Northern Ireland Heart and Stroke Foundation, as he is a native of Portglenone, Co. Antrim.

"I completed the half marathon in two hours and 20 mins but what really matters is that I finished it alive," he laughed.

On a more serious note, Noel highlighted the effects that dying has had on his mental as well as his physical health.

"I am still in a lot of pain and it's nothing to do with my heart. They had to cut my sternum open with a saw and use a clamp to open my chest so a lot of nerve endings were damaged, which is causing pain but you learn to live with it.

"I have good days and bad, both physically and mentally. Because I died, I have no fear of dying anymore but I worry about those I leave behind. I'd a lucky escape. Odds are nil if it happened again but what will be will be.

"My cardiologist and all medics tell me to go running and listen to my body, which is what I'm doing and I'd urge others to listen to theirs.

"I had a pain in my back which I thought was a trapped nerve. A pain in your back is a classic sign of heart issues, as well as a sore jaw. This isn't well known and needs to be highlighted. Get yourself checked if you have any symptoms and get an annual check too.

"Yes, I'm in training now for the Dublin marathon. There is always that fear. But you're always fighting demons anyway when you are running long distances to push yourself over the pain barriers and the walls - you haven't time to think about dying again!