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Press Release - Gold Coast Marathon - 6/3/22

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

               Maxime To Make the Most of Her Second Chance         
      at Life at the Village Roadshow Theme Parks Gold Coast Marathon

Maxime Szylvester was 49 years of age; she was fit and active, she 
maintained a healthy diet and walked five kilometres most days.

So, when the aged care diversional therapist from Point Cook in Victoria 
suffered a near-fatal cardiac arrest at work in February 2012 there seemed 
no rhyme or reason.

"There was no warning, I just dropped dead, and no one has any idea why," 
Maxime (59) said.in the

"I was preparing a 'happy hour' for the residents after dinnertime and 
that's the last thing I remember until I woke up in hospital three days 
later.

"Our division1 nurse Richard and my partner Sean's brother Kevin performed 
CPR which saved my life, because at the time it was not mandatory to have 
defibrillators in aged care and we didn't have one on site.  

"Sean witnessed the entire episode and was about to step in to help with 
the CPR when the mobile intensive care ambulance paramedics arrived with a 
defibrillator and used it eight times to bring me back.

"Because the cardiologist and all the doctors couldn't find a cause, and 
were unsure if it would happen again, they fitted me with an internal 
cardiac defibrillator (ICD), which I'll always will have inside my chest.

"I certainly know it's there; it can be a little uncomfortable at times, 
and I have to be careful to avoid magnets, some electric motors and some 
wireless devices because the ICD is Bluetooth," she said.

It's a tale of miraculous survival that ended up breathing life into an 
unlikely new fitness lifestyle choice for Maxime – distance running.

And it's put her on a path to the Gold Coast in July to line up for her 
first 42km full distance event, the 2022 Village Roadshow Theme Parks Gold 
Coast Marathon.

"I really love my running," Maxime said.

"Sean and I completed our 300th parkruns last week and, somewhat 
fortuitously it was at a parkrun that I learned about the worldwide Cardiac 
Athlete Group.

"Back when I had my cardiac arrest the survival rate was only two per cent 
- even now it's not even 10 per cent - and I always felt so alone and had 
no-one to talk to who would understand what I went through.

"But since the darker days when I came home from hospital with no support 
outside of my family, running has been my saviour," she said.

In 2019 the founder of the group, Lars Andrews, saw Maxime's almost 
evangelical passion for the sport and ability to bring people together and 
dubbed her an official ambassador for Cardiac Athletes.

"Wearing my Cardiac Athlete shirts at events gets people talking about 
their own health and hearts which is great," she said.

Maxime, who works these days as a second in charge at a medical centre and 
a marriage celebrant on weekends, will be coming to the Gold Coast well 
prepared for her full distance assault having completed half marathons in 
Melbourne in 2017, 2019 and 2021 and Bundaberg in 2018 and 2019.

Add to that the Princes Park Urban Trail Run in 2017 and 2018 and the IMF 
Virtual Run in 2020 and you can understand why the unstoppable dynamo knows 
it's time to step up to the full marathon.

And she's even over the frustrations of last year when her training in one 
of the most coronavirus locked down cities in the world limited her 
preparation to one hour of outdoor exercise a day while travel restrictions 
robbed her of interstate race opportunities.

"I was gutted, and I almost lost my mojo for running, but everyone kept 
telling me the Gold Coast course and atmosphere are amazing so Sean and I 
can't wait to line up in July - me in the 42km and he in the Southern Cross 
University 10km Run.

"And we are so looking forward to meeting other cardiac athletes over the 
race weekend, who we know will be competing in events on both days.

"I may not be the fastest person out there, but I give it my all on the 
day; hey, I've even come last but at least I finished.

"They say you only live once, but I'm not so sure of that," she laughed.

The 2022 Village Roadshow Theme Parks Gold Coast Marathon weekend will also 
feature the ASICS Half Marathon, Southern Cross University 10km Run, Gold 
Coast Airport 5km Run, the Health and Wellbeing Queensland 2km and 4km 
Junior Dashes and the always-hotly-contested CPL 42km and 10km wheelchair 
races.

The Gold Coast Double 63.3km event – contested by hardy runners competing 
in both Saturday's half and Sunday's full marathon - will also be 
contested.

People wanting further information on the 2022 Village Roadshow Theme Parks 
Gold Coast Marathon events can visit www.goldcoastmarathon.com.au

The Village Roadshow Theme Parks Gold Coast Marathon is organised by Events 
Management Queensland and is proudly supported by the Queensland 
Government, through Tourism and Events Queensland, and features on the It's 
Live! in Queensland events calendar.

Events Management Queensland acknowledges and pays respect to the 
Kombumerri people of the Yugumbeh language region, the Saltwater People of 
the Gold Coast, as the traditional owners of the lands and waters upon 
which we invite and welcome participants from across the globe to 
experience our events.

                                    ###

 

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