Rachel Apa, 24-year-old New York marathon runner, dies of rare muscular rhabdomyolysis

Rachel Apa died Sunday before she could cross the finish line in her first marathon.

The 24-year-old experienced a medical episode near mile marker 24 in Central Park during the New York City Marathon on Sunday afternoon, her father confirmed to NBC News. New York police said emergency responders took the woman to Mount Sinai Hospital in critical condition, where she died hours later.

His father, Steve Apa, called the situation “unfathomable.”

Steve said his wife, Michelle, and two of his daughter’s friends spent Sunday driving across the five boroughs to follow Rachel, a former Division I field hockey player, as she ran her first marathon. He chose to follow the app from his home in Lewisberry, Pennsylvania.

He said he spoke to Rachel before she started running and she was “very excited about it”. During the race, they stayed in touch by exchanging short text messages.

The first text came around 11:30 a.m., when Rachel was 9 miles away. “Hey, go ahead,” she wrote, referencing a mantra the two have shared for years and a nod to Steve’s days playing football at Lehigh University.

“I feel amazing,” she later wrote, attributing it to her pre-race carb load, according to her father. “I’ve never felt so good.”

His father replied cautiously, “Great, don’t overdo it. First marathon. It’s a learning race. Don’t overdo it.” He added that she would see her mother on the left side of the track in two blocks.

Steve said his wife saw their daughter pass at mile 14 before Rachel texted him “Ugh” a few miles later.

“You beat 18,” he replied.

“Ouch, ouch,” Rachel said, prompting Steve to remind her to take it easy.

At mile 20, Steve said he texted again. She responded with another “Ouch, ouch.”

He continued texting at miles 21, 22, and 23. At mile 23, Steve said, “All finish, not the speed.” »

Steve sent another text at mile 24, around 1:30 p.m., before noticing that Rachel’s location on the marathon tracking app had stopped moving.

At that point, Steve said his wife and Rachel’s friends were waiting for him at mile marker 25 and also noticed his location had stopped moving. His wife then called him and he told her to find their daughter.

He then texted his daughter to tell her that her mother was heading her way.

She never responded.

Steve said his wife arrived near mile marker 24 and started screaming Rachel’s name when she couldn’t find her. An EMS worker still on scene told Michelle that an ambulance had just taken her daughter to the hospital and the worker drove Michelle to Mount Sinai in a second ambulance, he said.

Meanwhile, Steve began driving to New York.

The New York Road Runners, which organizes the marathon, said in a statement that a bystander administered CPR before marathon medical staff could do so. The organization said medical staff then used a defibrillator on Rachel.

Doctors told the Apas that their daughter had died of rhabdomyolysis, calling the diagnosis “extremely rare.” The Cleveland Clinic describes rhabdomyolysis as a serious condition that causes muscle breakdown from overexertion, allowing “toxic components of your muscle fibers” to enter the bloodstream and kidneys.

Rachel has been an athlete all her life, her father said. She played field hockey at Bucknell University and exercised regularly as part of her post-college routine. She recently moved to Charleston, South Carolina to pursue an MBA while working full-time remotely.

“She was always on the move, always on the move, and it didn’t matter if it was school, sports or whatever. She was on the move,” Steve said.

Rachel ran the race with the Parkinson’s Foundation in honor of her grandfather, who died from the disease, she said in a LinkedIn post.

“My grandfather was one of my role models growing up. He taught me to stay active, push my limits and embrace challenges,” she wrote in her post.

“I never asked her why she chose to run for Parkinson’s, but my father, her grandfather, had Parkinson’s and she saw how debilitating it was,” Steve said.

Steve and Michelle are now back home in Pennsylvania, trying to make sense of Sunday’s events. Rachel’s two brothers are “trying to get by,” Steve said.