Family of Man Who Died During Houston Marathon Want to Find the Couple Who Helped Him after He Collapsed

The family of the runner who died at the Houston Marathon on Sunday spoke of their shock at the news and are looking to find the couple who helped him after he collapsed.

Harry Vroulis suffered a heart attack at around the 16-mile mark near the western Houston suburb of Tanglewood.

As per ABC13, the 74-year-old was helped by a couple who stopped after they saw him collapsing. The woman tried to comfort Vroulis and called 911.

According to Houston-based NBC-affiliate KPRC, the woman is called Diane McMaster and came across Vroulis not far from her house.

"Today I held a dying man's hand," she wrote to KPRC. "He was running mile 16 in the Houston Marathon [...] near my house, as I was walking my usual path."

"He was running in my direction, near me, when suddenly he collapsed and fell, and I rushed over to him because it looked like he had tripped.

"I called 911. I held his hand and called his name, Harry.]

Vroulis, who was running his 36th consecutive Houston Marathon, was taken to a local hospital where he subsequently died of heart failure.

"[I am] devastated," his brother George Vroulis was quoted as saying by KPRC. "I want to thank that woman for what she wrote. For what she did"

Speaking to ABC13 on Monday, Vroulis' brother added the death had come as a complete shock for the family, as the 74-year-old was an extremely careful runner, who regularly underwent health checks.

"He was very meticulous,"he was quoted as saying. "He went to every doctor in town three weeks prior, including cardiology stress tests."

He added the latest stress test had not raised any red flags.

Born in Athens, Greece, Vroulis moved to Houston in the late 1960s and first ran the Houston Marathon two decades later. Soon the race became a yearly habit, which he kept up even after he beat cancer in 2010.

Vroulis wasn't the only runner to suffer a heart attack on Sunday. Race spokeswoman Muffy King confirmed a 50-year-old male had suffered a heart attack shortly after finishing the race, but was expected to recover after being taken to a local hospital.

"On behalf of the Houston Marathon Committee, we would like to express our most sincere condolences and support to their family, friends and running communities," the committee said in a statement. "Please keep both of these men and their families in your thoughts."

King added Vroulis' death was the fourth in the Houston Marathon's 48-year history. The first came in the 1990s, with two further fatalities in 2005 and 2017, all of which were related to heart failures.