Youth pastor, 24, collapses and dies during marathon one mile after stopping to kiss wife
On Sunday (4 October), thousands of people took to Portland, Oregon, for the annual marathon.
That included Treyton ‘Trey’ Lara, who trained for several months according to his wife Audrey Shin-Lara and showed no signs of having any issues.
However, just a mile after running over to kiss her at around the 19th, the youth pastor suddenly collapsed and went into cardiac arrest.
Trey was taken to hospital, but it was unfortunately too late and the 24-year-old died.
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A GoFundMe has since been set up to raise money to support Audrey and the family following his death in the Rose City.
The page explains that the American was ‘just shy of his 25th birthday’ as it’s said he was healthy with no underlying medical issues.
Audrey told KPTV that she thinks her husband had always just enjoyed running as a way to ‘relax and release’.
“I saw him at 18, 19. He ran over and was able to smile and give me a kiss, and then he ran off, and he looked good,” she recalled.
Doctors told her that Trey had gone into cardiac arrest when he collapsed and while they did all they could to save him at the hospital, it was too late.
Audrey added: “The grief is coming in waves where one moment it still doesn’t feel real where we’re like I’m just gonna wake up, and he’s gonna be over there.”
Outside of his love for Jesus, she said he ‘loved his friends and family’.
“He was the best big brother, Tio to so many cousins, and some of our friends’ kids would call him Uncle Trey,” she said.
“He’s the love of my life, always will be. And we’ll see him again.”
His death is described as ‘sudden and shocking’.
In an update on the GoFundMe today (8 October), it’s said all funds raise beyond the ‘initial expenses of laying Trey to rest and honouring his life’ will directly go to supporting his wife and the family during bereavement.
“He loved film, kept an active Letterboxd account, ate popcorn like it was a delicacy, collected clothes like works of art, and had a unique sense of style. He was a coffee purist, a foodie, an incredible chef, and had an eye for photography. He could make friends with anyone and had an unmatched sense of humour,” the page reads.
“His confidence was unshakable and his faith unwavering. His faith was his defining feature. It has spoken the loudest to those who knew him, whether they spent years with him, months with him, or even just a single day. They recognised that Trey’s faith and passion for advancing the Kingdom of God were at the centre of his life.”
Audrey explained he recently helped to open a youth camp, Camp Genesis, over the summer and was working with other youth pastors and leaders to ‘make a change in the community’.
Topics: US News
Jess Battison