Positivity: Soccer player returns to the field where he nearly died
From Augsburg College in Minnesota (video is also at link):
Sept. 25, 2008
On a damp field at Augsburg College Tuesday night, Matt Bowman enjoyed his soccer team’s Homecoming game.
But the game wasn’t just Matt’s return to where he belongs — it was his return to where he nearly died just a little more than a month ago.
On August 20th, the 19-year-old sophomore collapsed in the final minutes of his soccer game.
“I was jogging around the field, my vision tunneled. I thought, ‘I have to go down,’” said Matt on Tuesday night.
Matt’s parents ran from the bleachers to their son’s side.
“She looks at me and says, ‘I can’t find a pulse,’ and I say, ‘what, what do you mean you can’t find a pulse?’” said Gary Bowman, Matt’s dad. “His lips were already blue, tops of his ears were blue.”
But then Gary started calling his son’s name. Matt heard the calls and eventually, recovered.
“I definitely felt like something was going on. I was going somewhere, I was slipping into something - it felt like back and then coming to,” Matt said.
After one long minute, Matt was conscious again. A week later, doctors figured out what had happened.
Dr. Tim Kroshus of the Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, said Matt experienced a “sudden death episode” caused by an anomalous coronary artery. One of his arteries was being pinched between his aorta and pulmonary artery which cut off the blood supply to his heart.
“The condition itself is one of the most common causes of death in young athletes,” Dr. Kroshus said, adding that they learned of Matt’s condition through a relatively new test: a CT coronary angiogram.
Dr. Kroshus and his team were able to correct Matt’s condition — moving it from one side of the valve, to the other.
Matt will be able to return to playing soccer and other sports by mid-November. According to Matt, it’s a medical miracle that he doesn’t take lightly.
“I’m so grateful. I don’t know why I was given a second chance but I know someone was watching over me and God pulled me through, I think,” Matt said. …..
Go here for the rest of the story.
