Karen Good, Becky Knox, Dennis Reardon, Tom Gifford and Nicole Young
The last thing that Dennis Reardon remembers is feeling his legs “vibrating” after crossing the finish line on City Island, so he held onto a chair for support. Seconds later, he lost consciousness and collapsed.
Reardon, of Camp Hill, had just run eight miles in the Harrisburg Marathon Relay, a team event in which four runners combine their mileage to equal 26.2 miles. It’s organized by, and benefits, the nonprofit Harrisburg Area YMCA.
On that November 2021 morning, what happened next was nothing short of a miracle.
A race volunteer stationed at the finish line, Becky Knox of Camp Hill, happened to be a registered nurse (RN).
Runner Nicole Young of Halifax was also nearby. She had planned to run the first relay leg, like Reardon, except she made a “game day decision” to switch to the final five-mile leg, since it would be less taxing on her body. Diagnosed with breast cancer, Young was scheduled to start chemo in two days—but she wanted to run one more race while she still could.
When Reardon collapsed, one of Young’s friends screamed her name. That’s because Young is also an RN—actually a nurse educator with UPMC West Shore.
Knox and Young both reached Reardon—who was turning blue—around the same time. He didn’t have a pulse.
“We instantly started performing CPR, alternating back and forth, and sent somebody to get LifeTeam,” said Knox.
Their teamwork was especially remarkable considering they didn’t really know each other. It was the first time that Young performed CPR outside of a medical facility.
“It felt like a year, but it was probably three or four minutes,” said Young, who ripped Reardon’s race bib from his shirt to learn his name and age. She also checked his running watch, which had recorded his race pace. The two RNs knew he had probably overexerted himself.
At that point, Karen Good just happened to be wrapping up her normal Saturday running route. When she saw the commotion, her instincts told her that a runner was in trouble, and she rushed over.
“He did not look well—he was pale and blue, together,” said Good, who has seen many runners in distress over the years. That’s because, as a clinical nurse specialist with UPMC Harrisburg, Good organizes the Harrisburg Marathon’s medical tent, providing care to injured runners.
Her all-volunteer medical tent wasn’t in operation for the relay, but, the following day, she’d be at the helm for Sunday’s full marathon. And her co-organizer? None other than Young, one of the nurses performing CPR on Reardon. So, Good stood by, just in case they needed help.
“On race day, I’m all over the place—usually out on the course—but I just happened to come back to City Island in the middle of compressions,” said Tom Gifford, the Y’s race series director. “Even though there was a crowd, it was quiet. Then we heard someone say, ‘We have a pulse,’ and you could hear a collective sigh of relief.”
LifeTeam, UPMC Harrisburg’s EMS ambulance hired by the Y to be stationed on City Island, took over Reardon’s care, placing an oxygen mask on him, whisking him into an ambulance.
“I remember coming to and hearing beeping,” Reardon said. “I remember thinking it was for someone else, at first.”
After a full battery of tests—and day of rest—at the hospital, Reardon was released.
“I can’t speak highly enough about (UPMC) Harrisburg hospital, and I’m so grateful to these two highly trained women who started CPR,” said Reardon. “And this is the part I want to emphasize—the God part—because I was blessed. All of this sounds like a coincidence, but it was all meant to be.”
Reardon, surrounded by Knox and Young, Good and Gifford, gathered together for this story, reunited for the first time since last November, to hug, remember and reflect.
“For a five to 10-minute window, we all just happened to be at the same place, out of a six-hour race,” Gifford said. “As a YMCA, we were so lucky to have them around.”
The experience changed all their lives.
It propelled Knox into HACC’s PHRN (Pre-Hospital Registered Nurse) program, similar to paramedic training, because “then I can do everything in my power to save a life,” she said.
Young, now cancer-free, told Reardon, “I think of your story a lot, and it’s given me a lot of hope.”
Looking back, Reardon, now 44, a special education teacher for the Dallastown School District, admits that he made a number of critical mistakes. His story serves as a cautionary tale to other runners, so they don’t follow in his footsteps.
“I trained by running up to five miles, instead of eight—that was problem number one,” Reardon said. “And I started training later than I should have—in August. So, it was a combination of under-training, plus being very dehydrated, and then my male ego—stupidly pushing myself, being competitive with another runner for the last few miles.”
Instead of training for a fall 2022 race, he’s preparing for a speaking engagement at his church. He wants to tell others how God can work through strangers, to set a chain of events into motion.
“I realize I’m blessed, but I don’t want to leave it there,” Reardon said. “This changed my perspective on everything.”
Going the Distance
Harrisburg Marathon medical tent co-chairs Karen Good and Nicole Young offer the following training tips for long-distance races:
- Train up to, slightly below, or slightly over, your race-day distance.
- Hydrate—drink plenty of water up to two days before race day and minimize alcohol, which dehydrates.
- During longer runs, drink more than water—you also need beverages with electrolytes.
- Develop and test your fueling plan during training.
- Get adequate rest, leading up to race day.
- Train in all types of weather, so that you’re prepared for anything.
- Don’t try anything new (in terms of food, running pace, etc.) on race day.
“If your body is telling you something, listen to it,” Good said. “And at the end of the race, don’t try to zoom past people in the last mile, because that’s when a lot of injuries happen.”
To hear more of Dennis Reardon’s story, plus stories from Karen Good’s 15 years in the Harrisburg Marathon’s medical tent, tune into TheBurg Podcast’s September show, dropping on Sept. 9. Learn more about the Harrisburg Area YMCA Race Series, including the Harrisburg Half Marathon on Sept. 11 and the 50th Harrisburg Marathon on Nov. 13, at harrisburgareaymca.com.
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