A SUPER-fit dad is recuperating after having a heart attack while on a run.
Aaron Hargreaves, 29, was training with Blackburn Harriers two days before Christmas when he suddenly collapsed.
The dad-of-two from Winterley Drive, Huncoat, runs up to 100 miles a week and had never had a history of heart problems until the incident.
He was with trainer Arthur Almond who phoned friend and former GP Elaine Leonard who lives nearby. She immediately tried to resuscitate him while the ambualnce was on its way.
Aaron, who won last year’s Accrington 10k race, said: “It was on a Sunday and I was trying to run up a hill and was finding it quite hard. The people I was with gave me five minutes to rest but minutes later they found me on the ground. I don’t really know what happened from there.”
He was rushed to Royal Blackburn Hospital. His wife Danielle, 28, was on her way home from Northampton with their children, Aiden, eight, and Liam, three, when she received the call about her husband.
She said: “They told me he had chest complications. They didn’t go into details because I was driving.
“When I got to the hospital it was a like a scene from Holby City. They took me into this room alone and the children to a creche. A doctor and nurse came in and told me he had a heart attack and was in intensive care.”
Aaron was transferred to Royal Preston Hospital where he spent Christmas and was diagnosed with hypercholesterolaemia – a genetic condition which leads to cholesterol being retained and cloggs up the arteries.
After spending 10 days in hospital he returned home on New Year’s Day and is now recuperating.
Aaron, who works at Boundary Baths in Colne, said he was very lucky.
“I’m taking it easy at the moment but really grateful I am okay. I’m happy to be at home with my wife and kids.”
Danielle, a teaching assistant at Peel Park Primary School, said: “The people he was with saved his life and the ambulance service was wonderful. He doesn’t remember what happened but we are grateful he is around.”
