Ely ultramarathon woman raises £3k for Magpas charity

A woman has completed a 50-mile (80km) ultramarathon raising more than £3,000 for paramedics who saved her husband when he had a cardiac arrest.

Michelle Berry's husband Allistair, 53, became seriously ill at their home in Ely, Cambridgeshire, in June last year.

Emergency paramedics from the air ambulance charity Magpas put him into an induced coma and he was treated at Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge.

After his recovery, Mrs Berry, 51, began fundraising for his life-savers.

The couple had always been keen runners and she took on the challenge of the 48-mile (77km) Peddars Way Trail ultramarathon, which runs from Knettishall Heath in Suffolk to Holme-next-the-sea on the north Norfolk coast.

On Saturday, she completed the course - which was extended to just over 50 miles due to flooding along the route - in about 12 hours.

Recalling the reason for her challenge, Mrs Berry said when she called 999 in June, "the East of England Ambulance Service (EEAST) paramedic crew were able to restart Ali's heart using a defibrillator. And not long afterwards the Magpas Air Ambulance medical team arrived".

"To protect his brain, [the team] placed Ali in a medically induced coma and took over his breathing," she said.

At the hospital, stents were inserted "to open his arteries again... and on the third day he was brought out of his coma - it was a huge relief that, both physically and neurologically, he'd come through it well, and after just one week in hospital, he came home".

She said: "Only one in 10 people survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the UK. Without the excellent emergency medical care we received that day, the outcome probably wouldn't have been so good."

To show her gratitude, Mrs Berry said she felt she had to thank the teams who saved her husband, whose condition came out of the blue as he had been "undoubtedly the fittest he'd ever been in his life," she said.

Talking after the race, she said: "I knew I had to do something that was hugely challenging and completely out of my comfort zone."

The furthest she had run was about 18 miles (29km).

"But the race was an absolutely amazing experience. I'll never forget it," she said.

"I'm still pinching myself that I actually managed to finish.

"When I set my fundraising target at £500 I wasn't sure if I'd manage it... but the generosity and support we've received has been wonderful I am so very grateful to everyone who has helped me achieve this."

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