Date released: Friday 3 June

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.

“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 300^th 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.