How Audrey came back from the dead to run the Barcelona marathon!
It was October 2017 when I first met Audrey and her husband Rohan when they attended my 07:15 am running intervals class. Over the years, they dropped into my classes and I always kept an eager eye on their progress as they undertook the Berlin and Barcelona marathons.
Audrey in pink with her family at the Berlin Marathon
Late on the evening of the 3rd November 2019, I got a message from Rohan canceling their scheduled nutrition Skype call with me. He told me that there had been an accident on the mountains and they wouldn’t be able to keep the appointment….
As told by Audrey Schoeman:
3 months ago, on November 3rd 2019, I was hiking in the Pyrenees with my husband when we got caught in a blizzard. We were trapped by the wind for about 2 hours with no shelter. I got colder and colder. When the storm finally passed I was still conscious, but it didn't take my husband long to realise I was in a bad way. While he was trying to reach a rescue team (our phones hadn't worked during the storm), I first stopped making sense, then lost consciousness, and finally stopped breathing. He estimates it was about 38 minutes before the rescuers arrived that I lost vital signs.
To a layman, I was dead. But the rescuers knew something that the average person doesn’t:
You're not dead until you're warm and dead
Luckily, the rescuers knew that there was a chance the hypothermia which had killed me could also save me. It took three helicopters to transfer me to Vall d'Hebron hospital in Barcelona, where there was equipment that might give me a chance.
By the time I arrived, I'd been in cardiac arrest for three hours. They put me onto a bypass machine (ECMO) and it was another three hours before my heart began to beat on its own. I was alive, but no one knew if I would wake up, and if I did, what the potential damage would be.
Well, long story short, 3 months later I still seem to be in possession of as many of my faculties as I ever was. I woke up after 3 days and stayed in ICU another 3, largely because they couldn't believe there wasn't more wrong with me. Less than a week later I was out of hospital completely. I had some broken bones from the CPR and I have long term nerve damage in my fingers, but the are no other side effects.
The impossible is now possible, because of them
So, where does the running come in, I hear you asking? Well, those doctors - the entire rescue team, really - did something truly incredible, and at the very edge of medical science. Not everyone thought it was worth trying to save me, but they persisted, and they gave me my life back. More than that, they've opened a way to save others in the future. I want to do something to give back and also to make sure that their work gets the recognition it deserves. So, 4.5 months after the accident, I'm running the Barcelona Marathon to fundraise for the ICU that saved me and saves so many others every day!
A note from Alan: a marathon 4.5 months after a critical incident would not be advised for most people, but Audrey and I debated over whether this could or should be done. The decision was made, training was monitored and, at the Barcelona Half Marathon, Audrey surprised herself with a personal best. We think that bodes pretty well for her full marathon ambitions!
Please think about giving a little. €5 counts! If you're reading this outside of Spain and you don't want to give to a foreign hospital, find out what your local one needs. If you're broke right now (or always), give blood. Without massive quantities of donated blood, I would be 3 months dead.
It could be any of us, and these guys give their everything. The lead doctor on my case was called back in to treat me just a few hours after coming off a 24-hour shift and I really don't think he got any sleep for a couple of days there. But he never made a mistake. None of them did. Let's show them how much we appreciate the selfless work they do every day.
And if you really can't give anything, please share this story!
Donate to Audrey’s campaign and come cheer her on Sunday, March 15th.