Marathoner didn't breath for a month

      http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/11/health/miracle-marathoner-carlos/index.html?hpt=us_t2

The title of this article in itself is interesting. It drew me in because when you think about breathing you think of something you are doing no matter what and if you aren’t you aren’t living. So in all it had me attracted in the title come to find out, ARDS was slowly killing Carlos by attacking his lungs which was why he needed to get oxygen pumped into him.  "Not only that, but he had multiple organ failure related to the infection. So his kidneys were not working. His liver was not working. And his bone marrow was failing as well." It’s crazy that this man is still living.

                Now the first thing I thought to myself was how on Earth is it possible to not breathe for a month? CNN explains how here, “With this treatment, doctors turn down the patient's respirator, then insert a special tube through the heart. A pump draws blood from the body, flushes it through an oxygenation machine that removes the carbon dioxide and delivers oxygen back to the heart. It functions as an external lung, without the patient taking a single breath.” Carlos was said to have a 40%-50% chance of survival. Carlos ended up using the treatment for weeks longer than the doctor had expected. I’m sure the family at this point was pretty worried about his health and if he would get better eventually.

                Finally after the month, he was able to breathe on his own. "You can imagine, before going into the hospital you are this active person. Then you go in, they put you under, and when you wake ... you can't sit up, you can't move your arms up and you look at your legs, and they're just not there anymore," Carlos said. "Then you realize it's far worse than you ever expected it to be." Clearly what had happened was pretty bad.  When he finally went back to his old life you could imagine how refreshing that would be.   He talks about slowly working back into his old rituals. The fact that this event didn’t stop him from staying active and running in marathons and he was continuing to try and improve shows his strong will. His willingness to proceed and succeed and go back to running marathons shows dedication and he explains it isn’t something for time instead he does it because he can. It seems to me that he didn’t take anything for granted and stays living his life to the fullest.