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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Josie O'Brien & Liam Buckler

Runner makes miraculous recovery after dying for THREE hours during mountain jog

A runner made a miraculous recovery after dying for three hours during a mountain jog.

Tommy Price, 27, was running through Hall's Fell in the Lake District with his friend Max Saleh, 26, with a short distance to go until the nearest village.

However, the lifeguard's run was disrupted when he suffered a life-threatening episode - finding himself face down on the ground.

Temperatures had been at freezing point all day with strong winds, snow and sleet showers as Tommy took a turn for the worse.

As the pair's phones were drained of battery, Max made the brave decision to put Tommy in an emergency survival bag and run for help.

Tommy was saved by the Keswick Mountain Rescue team (Keswick Mountain Rescue Team/Triangle News)

When Max left his best friend, he was clinically dead for up to three hours and 20 minutes.

Tommy suffered a cardiac arrest caused by severe hypothermia as his body temperature dropped below 19C on January 6.

He said: "If it wasn't for my best friend Max getting down the mountain and getting MRT to me as soon as possible, who knows if I'd be here today.

"I love the man with all my heart."

The temperature had been at freezing point all day with strong winds, snow and sleet showers (Keswick Mountain Rescue Team/Triangle News)

Keswick Mountain Rescue received Max's raised alarm and went to investigate, armed with warm clothes and snacks.

Around 20 minutes up Hall's Fell, two responders discovered Tommy's survival bag empty but folded up with stones piled on top.

They continued on to find him further up the trail lying face down and unresponsive.

Max made the brave decision to put Tommy in an emergency survival bag and run for help (Keswick Mountain Rescue Team/Triangle News)

The rescue team said: "To all appearances the man was lifeless.

"But current medical guidelines and our team training tells us that a casualty is not dead until they are warm and dead.

"To that end, the casualty is treated as if he were still alive."

Tommy did not respond to CPR or defibrillator shocks and was whisked away from the wet mountainside in a helicopter to be saved in hospital.

The lifeguard miraculously survived following his cardiac arrest (Triangle News)

Keswick Mountain Rescue added: "In very blustery and showery conditions he was expertly winched from Hall's Fell ridge into the helicopter.

"Along with a team doctor who accompanied the casualty to A&E at the RVI Hospital in Newcastle.

"On arrival at hospital the casualty's core temperature was found to be 18.8 degrees.

"This was one of the lowest body temperatures from which someone has survived."

Reunited with the Keswick Mountain Rescue team, Tommy paid tribute to them (Triangle News)

Hero doctors placed Tommy in an induced coma, before he woke up five days later asking what had happened and wanting a glass of coke.

Tommy has made a good recovery but has severe nerve damage in his hands and feet.

He is now running the London Marathon in October to raise money for Keswick Mountain Rescue and the team who saved his life.

The rescuers have urged daring runners to always pack spare clothes and a survival bag if running in treacherous conditions - calling it a matter of life or death.

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