On the morning in January 2007 when Nancy Richards woke up so sore she could barely move, she told herself she needed to make some changes. She had spent the previous day ice skating with neighborhood kids on the irrigation pond, and while she was relatively active at the age of 49, the experience made her realize that she wanted to be in better shape.
“I thought, if I’m going to enjoy my grandchildren, I need to make some lifestyle changes,” Nancy says. “I downloaded a ‘Couch to 5k’ training plan and ran my first 5k in March 2007.”
After that first taste of participating in a race, she started running faster and further, sometimes with her son. Eventually, she worked her way up to participating in marathons, and, after several tries, she qualified for the 2015 Boston Marathon.
“I was having a fantastic race; I was on pace — I was feeling good,” Nancy says of the 2015 race. “It was amazing to qualify and to be running well. It’s just a different, special marathon, more so than any other I had ever done previously or since. I was excited for the challenge.”
Emergency at the Finish Line
Around mile 20, however, as Nancy approached Heartbreak Hill — the most famous and toughest stretch of the course — something felt wrong. Nancy charged ahead, however, brushing the feeling off as nerves or maybe symptoms of a chest cold. But when she arrived at the finish line, first responders recognized she was in distress.
The attentive volunteers in the Boston Marathon medical tent sent her immediately to Massachusetts General Hospital’s Emergency Department. When Nancy woke up the next morning, she learned she had suffered an acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) — the most serious type of heart attack — at the end of the race and had a non-surgical angioplasty to remove the clot from her heart.
Expert Care, Far from Home
As an Oregon native, before running the marathon, Nancy did not have much experience with Boston — let alone with its healthcare system. She also has no memories of the final miles of the race or arriving to Mass General.
But she does remember waking up, post-treatment, with only minimal heart damage as she began her recovery journey. And she remembers feeling deeply grateful — grateful for the care she received and grateful for her love of running.
“I couldn’t have had better care,” she says. “I give Mass General, the emergency team and the cardiac care team full credit for the quality of life I have today. I didn’t recognize my symptoms at all, but as I learned from my doctor, if I had stopped running at mile 20 or if I had stopped running as a hobby, my heart wouldn’t have been in very good shape and things may not have turned out so well. Running and Mass General saved my life.”
Still Running 10 Years Later
Since 2015, Nancy has run more marathons but has struggled at mile 20. Despite her heart being healthy now, it seemed like every time she reached this point in a race, her mental state would overpower her physical strength, deterring her from performing her best. As a result, she has been unable to qualify for Boston a second time — which has one of the hardest qualifying standards of any marathon.
“I want to do it for myself, but I’ve also had so much help, support and encouragement from the running community and Mass General, so I also want to do it for them. I want to express my gratitude and communicate how well I was cared for and what a big impact Mass General and that day has had in my life.”
As the 10th anniversary of her cardiac emergency approached, Nancy decided she was not going to let qualification get in her way, so she joined the Mass General Marathon Team, which receives charity bib numbers through the Boston Athletic Association that runners receive in exchange for their fundraising efforts.
“Even though I did have a heart attack, running helped save my life, and I believe it continues to improve the quality of my life,” Nancy says. She says she thought the 10th anniversary of her heart attack was the ideal time to complete the race again, to show others that you can continue to run and be active after a cardiac event. “Making the trip to Boston is not only an opportunity to fulfill my goal to finish Boston feeling well, but I’ll also be able to promote running as part of a healthy lifestyle, raise funds to show my appreciation for the lifesaving care I received at Mass General and help make sure that care is available to others going forward.”
Paying It Forward
Since joining the Mass General Marathon Team, Nancy has worked hard, focusing on the demands of her training runs and fundraising efforts and on the mental challenge of passing mile 20 and conquering Heartbreak Hill. Sometimes, her grandchildren, who served as her initial motivation to start to run nearly 20 years ago, even join her for a run. She’s come a long way since that first grueling 5k in 2007, and she is proud of the example she has set for others about the importance of staying active.
“I won’t deny that I’m nervous about Boston,” she says. “But my goal is slightly different this time. I want to finish well. I want to enjoy the run, the people and the camaraderie. I don’t remember seeing the Citgo sign from last time, and I want to see it this time. My goal is to pace myself mentally and physically and to enjoy being part of the team and the celebration.”
“I want to do it for myself, but I’ve also had so much help, support and encouragement from the running community and Mass General, so I also want to do it for them,” Nancy says. “I want to express my gratitude and communicate how well I was cared for and what a big impact Mass General and that day has had in my life.”
If you would like to support Nancy, click here.
To learn more about the Mass General Marathon Team, click here.
