Rachel Apa, 24, died after collapsing near the finish of her first New York City Marathon.
Rachel Apa, 24, collapsed during the New York City Marathon on Sunday afternoon, close to the mile 24 marker in Central Park, her father told NBC News. It was her first marathon.
According to the New York Police Department, emergency medical workers took her to Mount Sinai Hospital in critical condition. She died there hours later.
New York Road Runners, the group that organizes the race, said in a statement that a bystander began CPR before the marathon's medical staff reached her. Medical staff then used a defibrillator, the organization said.
Steve Apa, her father, said he watched her progress on the race app from the family's home in Lewisberry, Pennsylvania. His wife, Michelle, and two of Rachel's friends traveled across the five boroughs to cheer her on. He said he spoke with Rachel before the start and she was "so excited about it."
Their first exchange came around 11:30 a.m., when she reached the 9-mile mark. She wrote "Hey, go," a phrase the two have shared for years that nods to his football days at Lehigh University, according to Steve. She then texted that she felt amazing and had "never felt this good," which she credited to carb-loading, he said.
He answered with a note of caution, telling her not to overdo it because it was her first marathon and a "learning run." Later, she sent "Ugh," and then "Ow, ow." He urged her to "go easy." She sent another "Ow, ow" at mile 20, he said, and he kept texting at miles 21, 22 and 23. At mile 23 he wrote: "All finish, not speed."
Steve said he sent one more message at mile 24, around 1:30 p.m. Soon after, he saw her location on the tracking app stop moving. Michelle and the friends, who were waiting at mile 25, noticed the same thing.
Steve said Michelle called him, and he told her to go find their daughter. He then texted Rachel that her mother was walking toward her. Michelle reached the area near the mile 24 marker and began calling Rachel's name when she could not find her.
An EMS worker still at the scene told Michelle an ambulance had just taken her daughter to the hospital, Steve said. The worker then drove Michelle to Mount Sinai in a second ambulance. Steve began driving to New York.
Doctors told the family Rachel died of rhabdomyolysis and called the diagnosis "extremely rare," he said. The Cleveland Clinic describes the condition as a serious one in which muscle breaks down from overexertion, letting "toxic components of your muscle fibers" enter the bloodstream and kidneys.
Steve described his daughter as a lifelong athlete. She played field hockey at Bucknell University and kept up regular exercise as part of her routine after college. She had recently moved to Charleston, South Carolina, to pursue an MBA while holding a full-time remote job.
"She was always on the go, always go," Steve said, adding that it applied to school, sports or anything else. "She was go."
Rachel ran with the Parkinson's Foundation in honor of her grandfather, who died of the disease, according to a LinkedIn post she wrote. She called him a role model who taught her to stay active, push her limits and embrace challenges. Steve said he never asked why she chose that cause, but she had seen how debilitating the illness was for his father.
Steve and Michelle are now back home in Pennsylvania. Rachel's two brothers are "trying to work through it," Steve said.
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