A man who died for six minutes at Wycombe Parkrun and was saved after CPR by a nurse, who had also completed the 5k, is set to do his 100th run later this month.
Will Doran, 72, who suffered a heart attack at the community run in The Rye Park in May this year, has shared his story and gratitude to those who saved his life.
This comes as Victoria Mack, a cardiac nurse from Chesham, was announced as having been awarded a national honour from The Royal Humane Society for her fight to save him.
She had been finishing the run with her 8-year-old son when she saw Will collapsed on the ground.
READ MORE: Wycombe Park Run national life-saving honour for nurse | Bucks Free Press
Will has now described what happened on the day he was resuscitated, his recovery and his upcoming Parkrun milestone.
The 72-year-old stated: “Saturday, May 17th 2025 began as any other Parkrun day.
“I got up at 7am and made a cup of tea, had my usual ‘Fitness Test’ shower (checking out all my joints and muscles were up for a jog), got dressed and, as a warm up, walked down to Wycombe Rye.
“I felt that I was finally over the string of petty viruses I’d had over the winter but was still getting back to full fitness.
“So by the end of the run I was feeling a little tired and needed to give the final sprint a bit more effort.
“As I crossed the line I felt a little light headed and stopping my watch I noticed my heart was running at 172bpm.
“I wondered whether I might be having a cardiac event and the very next thing I was aware of was Victoria telling me that I’d had a cardiac arrest and had had two rounds of CPR and a single zap of the AED.”
Will has stated he was ‘so fortunate’ that at the Rye run, there was a cardiac nurse, a doctor and two off-duty paramedics as well as a Parkrun AED nearby.
He added that Wycombe Rye Lido, where the run finishes, also has an AED and trained staff who came to assist.
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Will said: “Being professionals, my lifesavers had taken timings and I had been ‘dead’ for just six minutes.
“Thanks to their speedy response and the work of Wexham hospital’s cardiology team I was able to return to Parkrun two weeks later to show everyone that I was well on the way to recovery.
“The following week I was able to walk the course and now I am close to the 100 Parkruns milestone.
“But more importantly, I have been able to celebrate another birthday with my wife, daughters and grandchildren.”
Will is set to complete that Parkrun on November 22 and wants to use it as an opportunity to draw attention to ‘the importance of everyone knowing CPR’.
He said: “A cardiac arrest could happen to anyone at any time and not everyone is going to be as lucky as I was to have professionals around me. ”
The Parkrunner has started a Justgiving page for the Resuscitation Council UK, he has set a target of raising £500.
Will added: “Even if you are unable to contribute to this charity that promotes CPR please check out the British Heart Foundation website to ‘Learn CPR in 15 minutes for free with RevivR’.”
