Olympic Medalist Jenny Simpson On Her Sudden Cardiac Arrest After A Race & The Journey Back To Health

Jenny Simpson (0:00)

I pushed myself to the limit with no fear that my body wasn't capable of it and couldn't handle it. And it was capable, it did handle it, until it didn't.

SPEAKER_2 (0:08)

Jenny Simpson considered the most accomplished women's 1500 meter runner in history. In the hospital after collapsing at a track event.

Jenny Simpson (0:16)

My heart just completely stopped. Chest compressions and the AED, they saved my life. Like I had a one in 10 chance of surviving, period. It was so dark, and it was so violent, and it lasted for so long. Like I was so determined. I was not going to slip away.

It is unlikely I'll ever be able to return to running. Wow.

I really want to encourage people to resist the temptation to adopt fear. Like fear is just not the answer.

Rich Roll (0:45)

After you regained consciousness, one of the first things you said was like, did I win the race and what was my time?

Jenny Simpson (0:51)

Yeah.

Rich Roll (0:57)

You being this longtime elite champion in track and field, so decorated, you have retired from professional running. You took this job as chief running officer at Fleet Feet.

You temporarily relocated to North Carolina. I guess that's where their headquarters is.

Jenny Simpson (1:15)

Right.

Rich Roll (1:16)

And in an effort to stay plugged into the running community, which is kind of your job, right?

Jenny Simpson (1:21)

Yeah.

Rich Roll (1:22)

So it's like you have to show up at the community runs and all of this stuff. As far as I understand it, you showed up at a local kind of like mile race to pace the amateurs. And this was two months ago, this was in June, and you collapsed. You had no pulse. You were resuscitated with CPR and rushed to the hospital.

This was big news in the running world.

There was a lot of press about that incident the next day and the day after, and maybe a couple days after that, about like how your recovery was going.

And of course, like lots of outpouring of support from the running community, et cetera. But then the press stops. Like I searched today. I was like, after about June 18th, there really isn't anything that has been written about what happened or how you're doing. And I know that you really haven't spoken publicly about what has happened. So I'm really honored that you've given me this opportunity to kind of share from your perspective, what went down and how you're doing and what happened. So what did happen?

Jenny Simpson (2:39)

Yeah, June 16th, just like you said, I went to a community mile race. And I finished the race and paced some girls around the track in a mile.

And I finished. There's pictures from the day, which is like actually really wonderful for me. I'll get to this in a minute, but I don't remember anything from that Tuesday. So it's helpful for me to have these pictures. But there's pictures of me chatting with people. The whole day?

Rich Roll (3:07)

You don't remember the entire day?

Jenny Simpson (3:09)

Totally lost the whole day. Yeah.

And I'm chatting with people after the race is over. So I was fine. But I'm on the infield, and what's been told to me is that I was chatting with somebody and said, Hey, I need a minute. Like, I don't feel very well. And then I collapsed. And so I went into sudden cardiac arrest. Thirty nine years of being healthy and active and like not just healthy, like I've pushed my body to the most extreme limit I'm capable of. But on June 16th, the electricity in my heart got interrupted and my heart just completely stopped. And I mean, thank these people and thank God that they were there by standards at the race, including my boss who hired me at Fleet Feet, Joey Pointer and his wife, Ivy, who ended up being really critical in the story. But them along with several others just identified right away. They knew what was going on. And so they started chest compressions. And it's just amazing. So I'll pause for a moment.

My boss and his wife, they have a son, his name is Liam, and he has a heart condition. He was born with a congenital heart condition. And so years ago, they bought an AED for his track team to carry around wherever Liam is going, or the team is going, just in case in the off chance that something happened to his heart. They've known his whole life, and they'll have to have heart surgery at some point. So Joey ran to the car, because they had an AED, a portable AED, and ran back, and chest compressions and the AED, they saved my life. So Liam was there.