Woman Thanks Heroes Who Saved Her After Her Heart Stopped During Chicago's Hot Chocolate Race
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A suburban woman was running in the Chicago 15/5K Hot Chocolate Race back in November when her heart stopped.
The woman, Stephanie Inglesby, talked only with CBS 2's Tara Molina on Monday about that day, and the hero runners who saved her life.
Inglesby, 30, was running a race through Chicago when her heart stopped beating.
A Chicago Police sergeant saved her life and proposed to his girlfriend minutes later – and now, Inglesby wants to thank that sergeant and a Merrillville fire captain who stepped in.
On an early November weekend, Inglesby was one of thousands of runners hitting the pavement in Chicago's Hot Chocolate Race.
Since then, she's learned to walk again.
"Hearing that, 'Oh, you needed to be shocked back' – like, 'What?'" she said.
Feet from the finish line, Inglesby's heart stopped.
"My heart had stopped twice," she said.
That was when the two men whom she and her husband and daughter now call her guardian angels swooped in.
"They stopped what they were doing," Inglesby said. "They stopped before the finish line to stop and save my life."
One of those men was Merrillville, Indiana Fire Department Capt. Walter Cook. The other was Chicago Police Sgt. Mike Nowacki.
"I can't ever thank them for that like enough," Inglesby said. "They literally gave me my second chance at life back, for what they did."
Rushed to the hospital, Inglesby said she learned about a rare heart condition she didn't know she had.
She said it is "a case of what's called Kawasaki's disease."
Now, still recovering from the quadruple bypass surgery she needed, Inglesby said she is still re-learning things.
Monday was her first back at work, and time to publicly share a thank you to her newfound family...
"That's the story of a lifetime," Inglesby said. "We can tell people, hey this is what happened!"
It is a story that she emphasized carries a message of "be kind." And she said every heart can use a little bit more of that message.
"Good still does prevail, you know. It started out as a race where we are going to make a difference for some kids," Inglesby said. "But I didn't expect it would make a difference for not only me, but you know, my family as well."
The Chicago Memorial Police Foundation is set to honor Sgt. Nowacki for saving Inglesby's life in a ceremony on Tuesday.