A man who was resuscitated by his wife after suffering a cardiac arrest while he slept last year has challenged himself to run 1,000 miles by the end of 2016.
Jonathan Jenkyn’s heart stopped during the middle of the night on August 23, 2015, and only survived because of his wife Sacha’s quick thinking and training in CPR.
However, after going through ‘every test under the sun’ medical staff were unable to find the cause of the attack.
Now fitted with a pacemaker and defibrillator under his left shoulder the 40-year-old, who was a keen runner before his ordeal, has set himself the goal of running 1,000 miles by January 1 2017.
“There are many theories of why I survived but it is thought running in some way assisted my recovery because of my body’s expectation of running out of oxygen,” he said.
Jonathan, who is a committee member of the Felixstowe Road Runners, has ran the Ipswich half marathon and the Woodbridge 10k this year and has already clocked more than 700 miles towards his total.
“I’m looking to run an average of 20 miles a week”, he said, “I think it will go right down to the wire.”
Since his terrifying near-death experience Jonathan has helped raise thousands of pounds for charities and campaigned for more people to learn CPR.
“It struck me that before my cardiac arrest I hadn’t done any CPR training and wouldn’t have been able to save my wife if it had happened to her,” he said.
“It is like a safety belt, there may only be that one time it comes in useful but it will save somebody’s life.”
On Wednesday Jonathan was invited to the House of Lords following his charity work and campaigning.
Jonathan is currently raising money for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust as part of a group of friends who have challenged themselves to run 2,016 miles in 2016.
The group are running in memory of their university friend who died as a result of the disease ten years ago.
For more information and to donate to the cause see here.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here