Marathoner helped across finish line had body temp of 108.8
Ari Ofsevit has no memory of end of race
A runner who was struggling to make it to the Boston Marathon finish line remains in an intensive care unit after having a body temperature that could have caused organ failure.
He received some much-needed help from fellow marathoners and is thankful to the strangers who came to his rescue.
His is a story that's not about a near collapse just shy of the finish line or of his body temperature that nearly caused organ failure.
Ari Ofsevit said video and front page picture in the Boston Globe speaks volumes about the running community.
"It catches the spirit of the race," Ofsevit said. "Runners are generally not going to leave you for dead on the course."
The 31-year-old Cambridge man remains in the Intensive Care Unit at Tufts Medical Center, two days after complete exhaustion caused his limping body to zigzag down Boylston Street before two strangers scooped him up and helped him cross the finish line.
Ofsevit has no memory of it happening.
"I vaguely remember being on Boylston Street and seeing the finishing shoot, but I don't remember anything past that," he said. "Then I woke up (in the hospital) three, four hours later."
Medically, Ofsevit could be a marathon first: A body temperature of 108.8 degrees when he crossed the finish line, hyperthermia, and minutes later after an ice bath, his temperature plummeted to 88 degrees, hypothermia.
"(He was) pale, completely white, almost, his lips were blue," Dr. Matthew Mostofi, of Tufts Medical Center, said. "He was unresponsive and shivering."
Ofsevit has been in touch with both men who helped him finish a moment that encapsulates the spirit of 'Boston Strong."
"There were 30,000 runners, and 29,900 would have done the same thing," Ofsevit said.