Marine details moment his heart stopped while out on a run — and how a stranger saved his life
Last fall, Gen. Eric Smith, 58, a U.S.
Last fall, Gen. Eric Smith, 58, a U.S. Marine, went for his usual 3-mile around the Capitol in Washington. But that afternoon, Smith didn’t make it home.
Just a block from his house, Smith collapsed and lost consciousness.
The last thing he remembers from that day is going for the run, Smith told Craig Melvin of the "TODAY" show during Thursday's segment. “I don’t remember going down,” he said.
Moments later, Joyce LaLonde and her brother Tim LaLonde, a certified CPR instructor, spotted Smith lying unconscious. The family had been out celebrating at a restaurant after running the Marine Corps Marathon that morning. Coincidentally, Trish Smith, the general’s wife, had also run the marathon that day and Smith had spent his morning cheering on the participants.
“My sister started calling 911 and my dad joined us,” Tim LaLonde told the "TODAY" show. “We started assessing the person to see what was wrong and could tell that they weren’t breathing,” he recalled. “They weren’t responsive, so we started CPR.”
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