Six months and a heart attack after collapsing in the New York City marathon, a Texas dentist returned to the Big Apple today to finish what he started.
Michael Goulding, 51, conked out in Harlem, seven miles from the finish line when he ran the course for the first time Nov. 1. Paramedics raced to the scene and saved his life, and put him on the road to recovery.
“I was just touched by their professionalism,” Goulding said yesterday after a reunion with his rescuers. “This isn’t a job for them. It’s a calling.”
Goulding was one of a dozen people reunited with their rescuers during a ceremony at the fire department’s Randall’s Island fire academy. Victims who never got the chance to say “thank you,” got the chance to exchange hugs with first responders.
“I thought it was incredible,” said Lisa Horowithz, 28, an FDNY paramedic. “We changed the outcome of his life in a positive way. He’s back 100 percent and doing what he did before. It was even more emotional to meet his mother. She was still choked up about everything. It could have been different circumstances.”
Goulding, an avid runner, said he trained six months before attempting his first marathon, and couldn’t believe when he woke up in the hospital that his heart had given out. Paramedics on the scene restarted his heart with a two shocks from a defibrillator. Two months later he ran a half marathon and did fine.
Before the reunion, Goulding went to the Harlem street corner where he collapsed and ran the last seven miles by himself. There were no cheering crowds or blue line to follow, but Goulding was satisfied just the same.
“It felt good,” Goulding said. “It shows how close the line is between life and death. I’m just very humbled.”