Read the full story HERE››
(Visalia Times-Delta) – Shortly after Dameon Malek finished the End of the Trail Half Marathon on Saturday in downtownVisalia, he helped save a life.
Malek, a Visalia fire engineer and paramedic, said he noticed a fellow racer laying in the roadway not breathing when he knew he had to jump in and help.
Malek assisted American Ambulance paramedics with CPR on Don Turner Sr., a 68-year-old Visalia resident who suffered a heart attack and collapsed 200 feet short of the finish line. Turner’s son, Kris Turner, rushed to his side.
“I had already finished the race and ran back to finish with [my father], which is what we do often when we run together,” Kris Turner said. “When I turned around to go back, that’s when I saw him on the ground.”
Don Turner is recovering in the intensive care unit at Kaweah Delta Health Care District and is expected to survive. He is talkative and moving around, family members said Monday.
“I’m just forever grateful for the strangers who acted so quickly and gave him the care he needed,” Kris Turner said.
