ATLANTA — Thousands of people will line up to battle their way through 6.2 miles on July 4th at the AJC Peachtree Road Race, but for a man who collapsed at last year's race and the officer who helped him first, that struggle is worth every step.
Willie Hatchett suffered cardiac arrest a mile into the 2022 race, collapsing about a mile into the race.
"Willie didn't wake up and I started to panic," Atlanta Police Department Officer Melinda Lim said, who was the first to respond when he hit the ground. "I placed my fingers on his neck and I didn't feel any breathing; I didn't feel a pulse."
Eventually, doctors and nurses on the course rushed in to help. Lim said the group kept taking turns doing CPR because the weather was so hot. That day, Hatchett said though he never formally met Lim that day, those around him made sure he knew her kind soul.
"I heard so many great things about her, how she cared for me and how she worked so hard," Hatchett said after the fact.
After he was taken to the ambulance, Lim didn't see him again for months, but she said she was worried and wanted to make sure he was doing well.
"He was down for so long," she said.
But when Hatchett got out of the hospital, the two built a friendship step by step.
"Willie is a great friend, he's a great father, he's a great husband," she said. "I have heard nothing but great things about him. He is motivational, he's really positive."
And those small steps added up to a big idea—the two plan to walk the Peachtree Road Race together on Tuesday.
"Officer Lim told me, if you want to do it, I will do it with you! So when she told me that, I was like, ok, that might work, that might work," he said.
They are hoping this time around, they'll make it to the end, but either way, their friendship will endure long past the finish line.
"There are hard days at work, and I'll forget why I do what I do," Lim said. "And then I will remember Willie. You are one of the reasons why I do what I do."