'Luckiest man' Cyclist's so grateful after surviving roadside cardiac arrest

MARK Moran was used to endurance sports when a seemingly gentle bike ride saw him lying on the side of the road, with no heartbeat and close to death.

- Howard LLOYD

From left, Steve, Mark Moran and Dave were out for a ride to the pub when Mark went into cardiac arrest

The keen cyclist, triathlete and marathon runner, was fit and healthy when he went into cardiac arrest.Mark, 63, from Bristol, was on a bike ride with his friends Steve Makin and Dave Lane going from Cirencester to a pub in Frampton Mansell in Gloucestershire. They were looking forward to chips for lunch at the Crown pub when “the lights started to go out”, he says.

“It happened over a period of a few seconds. I'm on the bike and I start to feel dizzy like I’m passing out. I go to slow down because I'm clipped onto my pedals. And then there was just nothing.

“No energy, no muscle, no nothing. The last thing I remember is facing at an angle. And the last thing to go through my head was - ‘This is it! There was almost a sound of thunder in the background and it just felt like the end.”

Mark collapsed on the side of the road and his friend Steve was by his side in seconds. “It was obvious I was gone,” says Mark “I was laid there, not moving, with my eyes wide open, not breathing. So for Steve it was absolutely terrifying.”

Steve, who remembered the “Stayin’ Alive” campaign from years before, immediately started CPR, pumping rhythmically to the tune of the Bee Gees so hard on Mark's chest that he broke three of his ribs. Steve managed to dial 999 while their other friend Dave cycled back to help, clearing Mark’s airwaves and putting him into the recovery position.