Doctor Stops During New York Marathon to Help Unconscious Woman, Sacrificing His Own Finish Time

Photo: Northwell Health

When a Staten Island doctor heard a scream for help as he ran theNew York City Marathon, he sprinted toward the voice instead of the finish line.

Theodore Strange found an unconscious woman,theStaten Island Advance, reported. “She was losing her color and she was foaming at the mouth,” Strange told the outlet. “And she didn’t have any [pulse].”

Sacrificing his own performance in the marathon, Strange gave the woman CPR and worked with emergency responders to give her a defibrillator, theAdvancereported.

Those initial attempts did not restore the woman’s breathing, but “after two or three more shocks” from the responders’ equipment, “she was breathing on her own,” he told the outlet.

Strange serves as the vice chair of primary care of Northwell Health and the vice president of medical operations of Staten Island University Hospital, according toNorthwell Health’s website.

“My concern was to make sure the woman was okay,” explained Strange, who told theAdvancethat he heard that the woman was getting better.

“It was a surreal moment,” he said about finding his family during the race after the medical ordeal. “When I reached them, I honestly broke down.”

“This is my father — he is humble and passionate about what he does,” his daughter Victoria Strange told theAdvance. “Another year in the books and another day of my father doing what he does best: being a superhero and saving lives.”

On Sunday, Mary Keitany of Kenyawon the women’s division of the marathonfor the fourth time, posting a time of two hours, 22 minutes, 48 seconds. Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia won the men’s group with a time of two hours, five minutes, 59 seconds.

source: people.com