On Wednesday, the avid runner reunited with the Los Angeles City paramedic firefighters and medical team who kept his heart beating.
"It fills my heart knowing with a lot of love absolutely to know that people can come together," said Phillips, "Like Dr. Marwah said 'it takes a village.'"
In April, Phillips was running on a mountain trail in Elysian Park when he suffered a major cardiac event. A good samaritan found him and called 9-1-1. In the meantime, another good samaritan performed CPR Paramedic firefighters then continued the c.p.r. while they hiked down the mountain and ended up transporting him to Glendale Memorial Hospital.
"He would have been dead after about 8 to ten minutes completely and irreversibly without that CPR starting," said emergency room Dr. Emeen Kiureghian. "So that initial step was the biggest step of this whole thing."
"The message to the general public would be learn CPR," said Phillips. "You could save a stranger's life. Most importantly a loved one's life."
Phillips ended up being placed in a hypothermia-induced coma and spent several days in the ICU. Now, he's almost made a full recovery and was told he would run marathons again. But first, he awarded those who saved his life with a medal for the medical marathon they went through.
One of the first responders who helped Phillips was firefighter-paramedic Anthony Temple.
"I am pretty taken back by this whole experience to be honest with you. Coming in a just seeing a picture of him finishing a marathon and knowing that's what he did ... it's probably one of the highlights of my career," said Temple.
Phillips said he's working closely with his cardiologist to prepare step by step and be ready to run his next marathon, hopefully, next spring.
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