Coach Laura Beeman recalls life-saving moment on marathon day

Game-day preparation took on a whole new meaning for Laura Beeman just over a month ago.

Days like today — a home matchup with UC Davis, a favorite to win the Big West — are already fraught with extra amounts of nerves and stress for basketball coaches. But on Dec. 9, the day of the Honolulu Marathon as well as a Rainbow Wahine matchup with Hawaii Pacific, Beeman and some friends encountered something else.

As is tradition, she got up early to host friends at her house on Hawaii Kai Drive, at about the 16-mile mark of the race. Beeman; her partner, Carla Houser; and fellow coaches watched the elite runners from her driveway as they rounded the Hawaii Kai loop.

By 8 a.m., the best of the best had come and gone and amateur runners were making their way through. Beeman had gotten ready for the game and was just about to leave when she saw something out of the corner of her eye.

A Japanese man running in the middle lane — Beeman thought he was in his late 60s — staggered over to the right lane and collapsed face-first on the easement fronting her house. He’d run into a “no parking” sign on the way down, then vomited profusely while face-down on the ground.

Recalling CPR training — Beeman taught it for 14 years at Mt. San Antonio College prior to coming to UH, and Houser, a former coach at Cal State Northridge, was also versed — they checked for a pulse and found none. Recognizing cardiac arrest, they flipped him onto his back on the street to begin chest compressions. Beeman focused on clearing his mouth and airway of vomit so Houser could begin CPR. Meanwhile, the rest of their group sprung into action; UH soccer coach Michele Nagamine called 911 and Kamehameha girls soccer coach Missy Moore ran down the street for help. Wahine assistant Rachael Doyle tried to keep a growing crowd of onlookers at a distance.

“I guess if you’re going to go into cardiac arrest, do it in front of a bunch of coaches,” Beeman said. “Literally, everyone knew what they were supposed to do. Everyone knew their lane. It was immediate.

“There was no panic. It was just, let’s try to get oxygen and blood flowing in this guy until EMS arrives.”

Gradually, others came to help — a man who stepped in to temporarily relieve Houser on CPR, a woman who clapped in rhythm to help keep compression pace, police officers, a Japanese paramedic and surgeon Dr. Whitney Limm. The runner was without a pulse for about four minutes, the coaches recalled. To their relief, mobile marathon staff then arrived with an automated external defibrillator.

After being shocked with the device, the man began to breathe again. He was loaded into an ambulance, and that was the last that Beeman’s group saw of him.

She walked back into her house, hands shaking with adrenaline, and left for the Manoa campus. She decided not to mention it to her team so they could focus on the game (a 66-51 Wahine victory) while the man was hospitalized.

The runner was eventually transported back to Japan. Due to privacy issues the runner’s name and current condition were not disclosed, but marathon president Dr. Jim Barahal said Friday he was “not aware of a bad outcome.”

“It’s an amazing story, really,” Barahal said, noting a few years ago a runner went down in Aina Haina and was resuscitated with CPR from bystanders.

“We’ve had an interesting and pretty fortuitous record of these situations with bystander CPR,” he said. “It’s a little bit lucky, actually, so we’re very grateful to the people who stepped in. The combination of CPR and then having an AED available within a fairly prompt time span can be life-saving.”

UH coaches must re-certify in CPR every two years.

“UH is really good about making sure we’re compliant with that,” Nagamine said. “It was nice to see the training (come through). So many people think, ‘Ah, it’s such a pain in the butt, we have to do this and we’re never going to use it.’ And there we were, sitting on the side cheering on the runners, and we actually had to use it.”

Beeman was first certified in her mid-20s and recently led a course for coaches at Manoa.

“Moral of the story: Get certified in CPR,” Beeman said. “I’m just glad he lived.”