Runner has heart attack before race ... and still finishes half-marathon!
A SUPER-FIT runner completed a halfmarathon despite suffering a heart attack and collapsing minutes before the start of the race.
Now Dick Cheung, 48, has warned other fitness enthusiasts: ‘Listen to your body.’
He had blacked out shortly before beginning the gruelling 21-kilometre course in Peterborough, England, but just thought he was dehydrated.
Remarkably he finished the race in one hour and 35 minutes, which is just three minutes outside his personal best time.
It was only after checking in with St John Ambulance volunteers
‘Made me realise life is precious’
at the finish he was told he had an irregular heartbeat.
Tests at a hospital the following day confirmed he had suffered a heart attack and he was kept in to have a four-hour triple-bypass operation to replace clogged arteries.
Recalling the moment a cardiologist gave him the shock diagnosis, Mr Cheung said: ‘I asked him “Is this true?”
‘He said “Yes, I’m looking at your readings. They prove you’ve had a heart attack. You’re lucky to be alive”.’ The restaurant owner believes he may had another heart attack about two weeks before but again thought he needed to drink more water.
He told how during the run, he ‘wasn’t feeling too good and about 11 miles in, I started to breathe heavily and my twin brother Jack overtook me’.
Mr Cheung, of Hellesdon, Norfolk, added: ‘At the finish I sprinted to the line but was short of breath and felt lightheaded so I lay on the ground for around 20 minutes.’
But when he visited Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital the next day, he realised the massive risk he had taken.
He was in hospital for seven weeks in total until December 1 after also suffering from Covid but is now regaining his fitness. To mark his recovery, the Chung Hing Chinese restaurant that he and his brother run in Hellesdon is reopening today after closing during his health scare. It is not clear what caused his heart attack as there is no family history of problems.
Mr Cheung, whose brother Sze-Ming, 44, died in 2018 after being hit by a car while cycling, said: ‘This has made me realise life is precious. You have to make the most of it.’