Tragic nature of NYC Marathoner's death revealed as there is 'nothing she could have done'
What is normally a day of celebration at the New York City Marathon turned tragic when 24-year-old Rachel Apa collapsed while running through Central Park, about two miles from the finish line, and later died.
Apa tragically collapsed at around 1.30 p.m., with physicians taking turns performing CPR. Medical staff from the New York Road Runners, the NYC marathon’s organizer, arrived with a defibrillator, while Apa was taken to Mount Sinai Medical Center.
Doctors spent six hours trying to save her life before she was pronounced dead at 9.40 p.m. Her father, Steve Apa, revealed that doctors told the family his daughter died from rhabdomyolysis, a rare condition in which skeletal muscle breaks down rapidly and releases harmful substances into the bloodstream.
Sudden collapse with cardiac arrest purely from exertional rhabdomyolysis is possible but extremely rare, as most marathon cardiac arrests involve underlying coronary disease or other structural issues. According to Dr. Stephen Silver, the Chief of the Department of Sports Medicine at Hackensack University Medical Center, only five people of...