‘I Had To Stop And Help’
Doctor Rob Janas was running his first London Marathon when he saw a fellow runner collapsed on the course
Duty called for doctor Rob Janas during his first London Marathon
LIKE MANY OF US who have stood at a marathon start line, Rob Janas was apprehensive about what he would encounter during the 26.2 miles to come. Janas, an emergency-medicine consultant, at least hoped running his first London Marathon, in April this year, would be a brief escape from work. Instead, his race turned into a ‘busman’s holiday’, when he helped save a fellow runner’s life before completing the race.
Rob works in the A&E departments of the Gloucestershire Royal Hospital and Cheltenham General Hospital. He and his wife, Viona, have two young sons. ‘I’ve been running for about five years and find it’s a good way to relax and keep fit,’ says Rob, 49. ‘My job can be very stressful, but I can leave that behind and focus on something completely different during a run.’
After completing two marathons last year, Rob was keen to run London and raise funds for Children with Cancer UK, a charity he supports. ‘My goal was to get under four hours, which I knew I was physically capable of, but to get around in that time was more psychological with me,’ he says. ‘It meant that I was a little nervous before the start.’
Rob’s race went well and with about six miles to go, he was feeling fine. Then he saw a runner lying on the road. ‘Every day, I deal with emergency situations, but I wasn’t expecting one while running the marathon,’ recalls Rob. ‘But then I saw this poor chap, with paramedics performing chest compressions to get him breathing again. At that point, human instinct – as well as being someone who might be able to help – overtook any thoughts of continuing to run. I had to stop and help him.’
Rob quickly introduced himself to the people surrounding the collapsed runner – paramedics, a race official and a junior anaesthetist who had been spectating. The runner, who was aged about 60, didn’t have any personal details on the reverse of his number.
‘There were no clues as to why he had collapsed,’ says Rob. ‘He was unconscious and didn’t have a pulse. He had also suffered nasty cuts and bruises to his face when he had collapsed.’ With the area around the stricken runner cordoned off, Rob used his expertise to quickly assess the patient and help the paramedics decide how to treat him.
‘ We put a canula into his arm [to get fluids and drugs into the patient quickly] while the paramedics took turns to resuscitate him,’ says Rob. ‘ We used an ECG machine to get a heart trace, which showed some activity but not enough to get blood around the body.’
The runner had suffered a cardiac arrest. But after 10 minutes of roadside emergency treatment, he began to respond. Rob felt a faint pulse, which became stronger as the runner started to come round and move his limbs. By now, the marathon’s medical official had arrived and plans were made to transfer the man to hospital.
‘Once I knew he was in safe hands and I’d done all I could, I said to the others I would carry on,’ says Rob. ‘People asked me later how could I run on after that, but at work I deal with cardiac arrests and suchlike every day. Saying that, I definitely felt an adrenaline rush, maybe because it was happening during a marathon.’
Rob, like many other doctors, has sometimes used his medical skills in surprising locations. He has dealt with people collapsing on planes, and a child in a multi-storey car park.
‘In some ways it was bizarre, and my brain was probably too tired during the marathon to analyse it,’ he says. ‘Once I was reunited with my family at the finish, it actually wasn’t the first thing I told Viona.’
Rob finished in 4:19, although he admits his time wasn’t his priority after his unexpected stop. ‘ When you see something like that, you try to help,’ he says. ‘Even as a doctor, I feel secure knowing that in races there are likely to be other medical people running in case something happens to me. We all look out for each other.’
Rob wants to run London again – without any emergencies along the way – and enter some overseas marathons, too. ‘I believe the runner survived but I would like to find out what happened to him,’ he says. ‘I wish him well and was glad I could help.’
* Do you know the runner Rob helped? If so, please email rick.pearson@rw.co.uk. Rob supports Children with Cancer UK (childrenwithcancer.org.uk)