Quick-thinking firemen saved the life of a Texas man who collapsed in upper Manhattan yesterday while running the New York City Marathon.
An eagle-eyed member of Ladder 35 noticed the ailing 50 year-old runner in East Harlem — about 19 miles into the course — around 1:20 p.m.
“One of my guys saw him sit down and then lay back,” said Lt. James Daley.
“He said, ‘I think he needs help.'”
When the unit made its way across First Avenue, near East 124th Street, to help the victim, they noticed that he was unconscious and was having trouble breathing. The firefighters shocked him twice with a defibrillator to revive his fading pulse.
“By the time he was put into the ambulance, he was talking,” Daley recalled.
The runner was rushed to Metropolitan Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition.
“We were in the right place at the right time,” Daley told The Post. “If we were five minutes away it would’ve been a different story.
“It feels pretty good, but I’m sure he feels better.”