WASHINGTON CITY, Utah — You might know the feeling: you sign up for a workout, it gets to the morning of, and suddenly you're regretting your decision. Well, Jenessa Thornton can relate. She wanted to stay in bed the morning of the Cotton Days 5k in Washington City, but instead of listening to the part of her that wanted those extra Zs, she got up to run.
"I was actually able to run the entire time. As soon as there was an 8% increase of a hill, I started to walk and this man passes me and I was giving him props because he's older and he's just killing it up this hill," Thornton said.
That man was Fred Bernhardt. When he started to walk, Thornton was going to start running again and pass him — until something told her to keep walking. When he started to run, that same voice told Thornton to start running. As she looked up, she saw Bernhardt fall head first.
"I started compressions and it was super emotional," Thornton recalled. "This really overtook me to where I'm just compressing and I'm staring at him and I'm like, 'This is not real.'"
With first responders on the way, Thornton, with the help of another bystander, was able to help Bernhardt regain consciousness.
"I'm emotional about it," Bernhardt said. "I think she really saved my life."
"There were so many times throughout the morning where I could have been in a different spot if I wouldn't have listened to each prompting to get me to where I was," Thornton said.
Bernhardt stayed the night at the hospital for observation. Doctors don't know what caused him to collapse, but he's wearing a heart monitoring patch for the next few weeks.
"My chest is sore from the compressions that were done. They said usually with CPR you get a few broken ribs, but maybe I was lucky it was Janessa," Bernhardt said.
Thornton credits her nearly 15 years of experience as a 911 dispatcher and her CPR training for helping her know what to do in those critical moments.
"Everyone needs to know how to do CPR," Thornton said. "I truly think not only was I put in that position to save his life, but also to help educate everyone around us."
Bernhardt says he's going to freshen up on his CPR training so he can help somebody in the future if they need it.
"Jenessa is now my guardian CPR angel," Bernhardt said.
