Olympic medalist Jenny Simpson shared an update on her recovery, two months after going into sudden cardiac arrest while taking part in a community running event on June 16 and being discharged from a hospital later that month.
Simpson, who retired from elite racing in 2024, posted that, after receiving lifesaving care at the Sir Walter Running Pop Up Miles event in Raleigh, North Carolina, she went into cardiac arrest again at a hospital. She was transferred to Duke University Hospital for “more advanced heart failure support.”
“My body was dying, but my spirit wouldn’t give up,” her post read. “I fought for my life.”
Once Simpson’s heart began beating again, it wasn’t pumping strongly enough, which caused fluid build-up in her lungs.
“I was, quite literally, beginning to drown,” the post read. “And then, miraculously, my heart woke back up. My whole body proved remarkably resilient. Within days my heart and lungs were strong enough to work on their own.”
Simpson was diagnosed with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC), a rare inherited heart condition.
“Scar tissue within my heart disrupted its electrical system, triggering dangerous heart rhythms that ultimately caused my heart to stop,” her post read. “As devastating as that diagnosis sounds, I truly feel profoundly fortunate. CPR, AED shocks, exceptional medical care, and a healthy body and fighting spirit that have spent a lifetime adapting to hard things all came together to give me another chance at life.”
The diagnosis “also means it would be dangerous for me to return to running.”
“That chapter has ended,” the post read. “Thankfully, my story hasn’t.”
Simpson reflected on her professional running career. She is the lone U.S. woman to win a world 1500m title (2011) and one of two to win an Olympic 1500m medal (bronze in 2016).
From 2007 through 2019, she finished in the top three in one of the 1500m, 5000m or 3000m steeplechase at all 13 annual USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships.
“I couldn’t have written a better ending,” her post read. “To have my final run be a one mile race on the track, pacing young girls and running in community... I’m in awe of the goodness of what God has given me.”
