MILWAUKEE (WTMJ) – A quick-thinking nurse stepped in to save a woman’s life after she collapsed and stopped breathing during the Chicago Marathon.
Brian Beres, who works at ProHealth Waukesha Memorial Hospital-Mukwonago, didn’t hesitate when faced with the emergency. An experienced marathon runner, Beres has participated in the Chicago Marathon for over a decade, raising funds for the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago in honor of his son, Kieran, who underwent life-saving surgery at just five days old. 
This year, Beres had an additional goal: to complete the 26.2-mile race in a time that would qualify him for the Boston Marathon. He was on track to achieve that goal when, just after mile 21, he witnessed a runner collapse ahead of him.
“A woman running not 10 yards in front of me suddenly collapsed. I immediately ran to her,” Beres recalled.
His training as an emergency room nurse took over. “She wasn’t breathing and didn’t have a pulse,” he said. “I started CPR right away with the help of a bystander.”
Beres performed CPR for 45 minutes until emergency responders arrived and transported the woman, Maria Sutton, to the hospital. Sutton had suffered a heart attack during the race.
On Wednesday night, Beres had the chance to meet Sutton, the runner he had saved.
“This was fate,” Beres said. “I was meant to be there for her. It was God’s way of saying, ‘This is the race you are going to run.’”