FAIRMONT — Granada resident Carol Spear will take part in the TCO Vikings 5K at the Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center on Sunday. It will mark her return after a tumultuous couple of years involving a near-death experience.

Having recently shared her story with the Minnesota Vikings, the organization is now helping Spear promote her book, “My Million Dollar Miracle.” She shared what she went through and what it’s like to be coming back.

Two days after she and her husband, Larry, participated in the 2017 event, life took a dramatic turn.

“I had a ‘widowmaker’ heart attack,” she said. “That was followed by 19 hours of surgery, and for seven days after that I was given a zero percent chance of survival.”

While on the operating table, Carol’s heart stopped for 10 minutes and doctors performed CPR for more than an hour. The CPR resulted in broken ribs and a crushed sternum before internal paddles were used six times to restore her heart rhythm.

“I was in St. Marys Hospital for 97 days, and during that time I had 40 surgeries,” she said.

Carol fought through it all, increasing her odds of survival.

She was put on an ECMO machine, which pumps and oxygenates a patient’s blood outside the body, allowing the heart and lungs to rest. After surviving all that and rehab, Carol said her faith played a large role in her recovery and day-to-day life.

“That’s what I’m about,” she said. “That’s who I am and how I try to live my life. Also, my family and friends were such a tremendous support to me and I know that without the prayers I wouldn’t be where I am today.”

Looking forward to the 5K event, Spear does not expect to be able to do much physically, but says her return is more a message of hope. She will be aided by her grandchildren, who will be pushing her wheelchair.

“There’s always hope, there’s always victory, you just have to get to the other side of that,” she said. “I want some closure when I go back, I don’t want to think of that 5K in 2017 and about when I had my heart attack.

“I want to go this year and say, ‘Hey, I crossed that finish line.’ I may not run and I may not walk, but I am going to cross that finish line.”