BAL HARBOUR, Fla. – Mark Overton was a fitness fiend, a health nut who rarely got sick, until he collapsed on the Fourth of July in front of his wife after they worked out together.
The Bal Harbour police chief had a massive heart attack and hasn't regained consciousness since.
"He was always very, very healthy, so it was just a shock," Esther Overton told Local 10 News.
Doctors found major blockage in three of his arteries.
"He's stable, but, honestly, he's in a situation where, right now, we're taking it one day at a time," Esther Overton said.
She spends every day and night by her husband's hospital bed.
"The compassion, the love, the generosity, the kindness, the support that we have felt, I'm just so filled with gratitude," she said. "It's been amazing."
Two of Overton's former Miami Beach police colleagues know what they're going through. Chris and Shantell Mitchell's 19-year-old son, Dwayne, suffered sudden cardiac arrest and collapsed just before graduating from high school. They spent months in the hospital before losing him.
"His situation is so similar to Dwayne's because he sustained an anoxic brain injury," Shantell Mitchell said.
Through their new Dwayne Have a Heart Foundation, a fundraiser has been planned to bring police and the community together for the Overtons.
"He loves to run, and I know if there's any fundraiser that he would want, it would be a 5k run/walk," Chris Mitchell said.
That fundraiser is planned for Nov. 5 at 8 a.m. in Miami Beach. The race will begin on the sand behind Nikki Beach. The entry fee is $25 per participant.