August 2023 is the month that everything changed for Wesley Kreder. Forever. A professional cyclist since 2013, a veteran of 14 cobbled Monuments and three Grand Tours, the month began with a crash and a broken collarbone on stage four of the Tour of Poland. That in itself wasn’t disastrous – he’d broken the same bone before – and he knew within a few weeks he’d be race-ready again for the end of the season. It was what came next that upended everything for the Cofidis rider.

“I was slowly building back up to return to racing [and] the rest of the time I was training at home and enjoying time with my family,” the Dutchman told Escape Collective via email. But he wouldn’t get to pin another race number on ever again. He almost wouldn’t even see his family again. In fact, he’s immensely lucky to be even telling his story today. On the night of August 29, 2023, Kreder suffered a cardiac arrest at home so severe that, as cardiologists later explained to him: “Without immediate resuscitation, hardly anyone survives.”

Kreder was only 32. His two young children – ages six and two at the time – were asleep in adjacent rooms, at first unaware that their father was clinging to his own young life. “I suffered a ventricular fibrillation, a severe heart rhythm disturbance where the heart stops pumping and there’s no blood circulation,” he said. Thanks to the quick thinking of his wife and her family, Kreder survived to tell the tale, but the scars still linger via acquired brain injury (ABI). From one moment to the next, his life changed dramatically for evermore. “Sometimes it’s hard to find peace in my head, and that affects my daily life with my kids, my family, and my energy,” said Kreder, now 35. “I”m grateful to still be here, but learning to live with ABI remains a constant challenge.”

This article was published by Escape Collective in March 2026. To read the full article click here.