"Providing benefits and services to America's state troopers since 1989"
|
|
"Providing benefits and services to America's state troopers since 1989" |
|
Officers run with trooper a year after saving his life
Exactly one year to the day after undergoing quadruple bypass surgery, Kirk Nielsen of the Iowa DPS returned to the FBI National Academy to complete the final run, the run that cardiac arrest prevented a year earlier. Thinking he was in ideal physical condition, Nielsen, 47, joined his classmates on November 19, 2008, for the run during week eight of the 11-week academy course. Little did his classmates know that they would soon be racing for a nearby automated external defibrillator to save Nielsen’s life. Nielsen fell out with a massive heart attack just after crossing the finish line after a 5.2-mile run. His heart had stopped for three minutes before the AED revived him. Although Nielsen had completed the requirements for graduation, he had a personal goal to complete the Yellow Brick Road, the final (but optional) test of the students’ fitness ability. The course consists of a 6.1-mile grueling run through a hilly, wooded trail built by the Marines. Participants climb over walls, run through creeks, scale rock faces, and crawl under barbed wire in muddy water. The course came to be known as the Yellow Brick Road after Marines placed yellow bricks at various spots to mark the way through the wooded trail. Those who complete this difficult test receive an actual yellow brick to memorialize their achievement. To make the accomplishment even more rewarding, 20 of Nielsen’s classmates made the trip back to Quantico, Va., on December 2, 2009, specifically to join Nielsen in conquering the Yellow Brick Road. His memento yellow brick, signed by his fellow runners, sits in his office as a constant reminder of the strong friendships that developed during their weeks of training, and the unity of friends working together to save his life. “It was amazing and humbling, to say the least, to have so many people come from around the United States to run the Yellow Brick Road with me,” Nielsen said. “It indicates what types of friendships are built at the academy – bonds that will last forever.” Several of the classmates who made the trip to run with Nielsen are the very men and women who helped save his life a year earlier. |
|
1949 Raymond Diehl Road, Tallahassee,
Florida 32308 800.765.5456 |
Highway Patrol/State Police Memorial
