When Utah Valley University nursing professor Stephanie Dunn volunteered to work at the finish line of the Utah Valley Marathon in June, she didn’t expect to save a life.

“Even before I joined UVU, I would occasionally look for opportunities to use my professional qualifications to volunteer in the community,” Dunn said. “But I’d never done a marathon before. Then, my daughter and her fiancé decided to run the half-marathon. So that kind of pushed me over the edge in signing up.”

Dunn thought she’d just have a front-row seat to seeing her family finish the race. But when another runner collapsed soon after crossing the finish line, Dunn was in prime position to intervene. And as it turns out, she had several of her UVU nursing students nearby to help.

“I actually didn’t know that there would even be UVU students there,” she said. “I was really surprised when I walked up and saw about seven of my students, some of whom I’ve had in my classes.”

The runner, 23-year-old Jack Walker, had no history of heart trouble prior to the race. According to a KSL report, he said he felt nauseated as he sprinted across the finish line, took one step toward a garbage can intending to throw up, then passed out, injuring his face on the ground as he fell.

Dunn and three UVU nursing students — Ann Earl, Sophie Armond, and Brianna Ballegooie — were the first medical workers on the scene, although Dunn said an unidentified bystander from the crowd who said he was a heart surgeon also stepped forward to assist.

By the time Dunn arrived, she said, the bystander had moved Walker onto his back. Thirty seconds later, his pulse stopped.

“At that point, I said, ‘Start chest compressions.’” Dunn said. “The bystander immediately started chest compressions, which were obviously very effective.”

Meanwhile, Dunn’s students were busy calling 911, taking notes on the patient’s condition and timing of the incident, and rotating in to take turns giving chest compressions.

 

All told, Dunn said, Walker was unconscious and without a pulse for 11 minutes — seven with her and her students and four more after the paramedics arrived and used a defibrillator.

Dunn said the UVU students were well prepared and that despite her extra years of experience, they acted as a team during the incident. Dunn credited the rigorous simulations UVU nursing students undergo as a crucial part of their preparation.

“The students responded just very calmly. They were very efficient,” she said. “They quickly stepped into the roles that we already know are part of this team process when CPR is in place, and they quickly filled those roles and just knew what they were. I was really impressed with how automatic it was.”

Accompanied by his wife, Walker was taken to the ICU and stabilized. According to the KSL report, doctors eventually found a rare condition in a coronary artery that was restricting blood flow to his heart and likely had been for his entire life, despite his athletic prowess.

Dunn has stayed in contact with Walker during his recovery and said he just underwent a successful surgery to address the issue. “I'm excited to talk to him when he gets home and ask him if he's feeling better than he was before because he's had such a significant deficit in the blood supply to the heart,” she said.

Dunn said that while some of the classes she teaches at UVU can be challenging, she knows the entire nursing department takes its role seriously in preparing competent and capable nurses.

“Eventually, we're going to be equals in the field,” she said. “We could be on the same team, which is what we were at the marathon. It wasn't like me telling them how to do CPR. We were doing it together. So, I’m not just training future nurses — I’m training future colleagues. And that’s a new perspective.”