Man whose life was saved by CPR to be team captain in Heart Mini Marathon

Man whose life was saved by CPR to be team captain in Heart Mini Marathon

CINCINNATI (WKRC) - Thousands of walkers and runners are teaming up this weekend to support the American Heart Association during the annual Heart Mini.

This Sunday, one of the teams in the annual event is “Big Mike’s Big Heart.” Emily Wall and her husband Mike Perrich are their team’s captains.

One of their wedding photos was taken in front of the Cincinnati Museum Center. They didn’t know at the time that Perrich would have a cardiac event at the same location in the future.

Fortunately, an AED was close by. Also, a high school student who knew CPR was there the day Perrich went into cardiac arrest.

Her name is Chloe, and she likely saved his life by performing CPR after his heart stopped three times.

Wall and Perrich talked about this life-changing event.

“I returned to work within three weeks. No mental issues. I woke up, the neurologist standing over me, monitoring my brain activity, asked me a bunch of questions – my wife's name, my address, birth dates, phone numbers, the whole nine yards. Took the cap off and said, 'This man is fine,’" Perrich said.

“I remember kind of staring at the ICU nurse, thinking just kind of shocked, and they were shocked that he was fine. And they were like, 'You don't understand. CPR made the difference.' If he hadn't had that CPR, and just to think how fortunate we were that people knew exactly what to do in that moment," Wall said.

Part of the reason Perrich and his family are raising money for this year’s Heart Mini is that there is a law in Ohio that high school students are supposed to learn CPR. But because of COVID-19, that isn’t happening. So, they want to raise money for the instruction to resume, with the support of the American Heart Association.

“This is the 46th year that we are running downtown. We've got all abilities and ages that can come join us for a walk up to a half marathon," said Rachel McCarthy, who is the associate vice president of development for the American Heart Association.

The 2023 Cincinnati Heart Mini Marathon and Walk is Sunday, March 19. It’s in downtown Cincinnati. The race begins at the corner of Fifth Street and Lawrence.