LOS ANGELES (KNX) – A life-saving surgery led to an incredible patient-doctor bond.
In 2015, Kathy Nguyen was visiting family in Los Angeles when she suffered a “really rare form” of a brain aneurysm.
Enter Dr. Jonathan Russin with Keck Medicine of USC, one of only a few doctors who could treat her.
“Really it was sort of a difficult situation to be able to cure this thing and not give her a devastating stroke,” Dr. Russin recalled.
But Nguyen pulled through. After a month in the Intensive Care Unit, Nguyen went back home to Delaware.
Nguyen, once an avid runner, considered never running again.
“Just getting out of my bed to the bathroom felt like a marathon,” Nguyen explained.
Her heart wouldn’t let her and so she decided to do a “comeback race” in L.A.
One year and many steps later, Nguyen was running again.
She also decided to ask her health care team, including Dr.
Russin, to run that last mile with her.
But doing a last mile wasn’t enough for Dr. Russin.
“…it was like, ‘Are you kidding me? You had a ruptured brain aneurysm, right, and I’m gonna run just the last mile?’ I’m gonna run the whole thing!” he said.
Not only did Dr. Russin run that marathon with Nguyen, but they’ve ran that marathon together every year since, including an Ironman last fall.
It’s all for a cause personal to them. The pair have raised over a $100-thousand dollars in support of aneurysm research at Keck USC.
The two will run the L.A. Marathon on March 20.
You can learn more about their mission by clicking HERE.
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