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Friday, June 26, 2009
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Athletic rivals bond as cardiac arrest victims
Staff Writer They were rivals on the basketball court - Michael Ward, No. 54 for the Pequot Lakes Patriots, and Kyle Bednar, No. 13 for the Pierz Pioneers.
But the competitive 17-year-old athletes have struck a bond off the court after they beat the odds and rebounded after going into sudden cardiac arrest within days of one another.
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Michael Ward (left), 17, Pequot Lakes, and Kyle Bednar, 17, Pierz, showed off some of their basketball skills Wednesday. In a strange twist, the former basketball rivals ended up going into cardiac arrest within days of each other and now have implantable cardioverter defibrillators implanted in their chests to monitor their hearts. Brainerd Dispatch/Kelly Humphrey
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The teens, who both stand at an impressive 6 feet, 4 inches, had less than a 17 percent chance of survival. If it weren't for the quick actions of those around them and the automated external defibrillators used within minutes to restart their hearts, the teens likely wouldn't have made it, said their parents.
"I think God had a hand in this," Lisa Bednar, Kyle's mom, said of her son surviving his ordeal. "God had a hand in where it happened and when it did."
"The odds were against him," added Jeanne Ward, Michael's mom, of his similar situation. "It was family and faith that pulled these boys through."
If you go
The Michael Ward Heart Awareness Benefit is planned from 4-8 p.m. Friday at Pequot Lakes High School.
A sloppy Joe dinner will be served.
Cost is $7 for adults, $5 for children ages 4-12 and free for children 3 and younger.
The benefit will feature silent auction items, as well as speakers, demonstrations and training on CPR and automated external defibrillators. A guest speaker from "Take Heart" of St. Cloud also will be there.
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Kyle graduated May 29 from Pierz Healy High School. He was at Grad Blast later that night in the high school gym when he was riding a mechanical bull and began to appear dizzy around 3 a.m. the next morning. The operator stopped the ride and Kyle slid unconscious down the machine onto the mats. His mom, a registered nurse, was volunteering at Grad Blast and was about 40 feet away. She ran quickly to her son's side.
Someone called 911 while Lisa, as well as Steve Boser and Lois Virnig, both Grad Blast volunteer parents, and First Responders, began CPR on Kyle. Virnig retrieved the automated external defibrillator mounted on the wall outside the gym and they used it to shock Kyle's heart. The machine then detected a pulse and CPR was performed on Kyle until paramedics arrived.
Kyle was transported to St. Gabriel's Hospital in Little Falls and airlifted to St. Cloud Hospital where he was placed in a medically induced coma. His body temperature was lowered to 92 degrees for 24 hours to slow down his system and allow his body to preserve energy as it healed. After weaning him off medications and warming his body to 97 degrees, a 36-hour process, Kyle woke up but it took awhile before he began to understand what happened. He said one of his first memories is of staring at the ceiling and thinking that it was moving.
An implantable cardioverter defibrillator, a small battery-operated device that detects irregular heartbeats, was implanted in Kyle's chest June 4 and will deliver a jolt of electricity to his heart if needed.
By the next day, Kyle was back home but before leaving the hospital he met Michael, who had collapsed around 8 p.m. June 2 while playing summer basketball at Pequot Lakes High School with his teammates. Michael had just completed a lay-up when he and other players collided at the padded wall behind the basket. Michael got up and tried to walk away but he collapsed. A teammate called 911 while another teammate called his father who was a First Responder. He arrived quickly and started CPR. Pequot Lakes police officer Josh Gartner also arrived quickly and used an automated external defibrillator - all five Pequot Lakes squad cars have them and one is mounted outside the high school gym - on Michael, reviving his heart at the scene. He was airlifted to St. Cloud Hospital and was placed in a medically induced coma and his body temperature was lowered, just like Kyle's. His ICD was implanted in his chest on June 10.
Both teens are continuing to recover and aren't allowed to lift their left arms over their heads or lift anything heavier than 2 pounds for at least another 4-5 weeks until they undergo a medical review in St. Cloud. It will be determined then what types of physical activities or sports they'll be able to participate in.
There is no medical reason why the teens went into sudden cardiac arrest. Neither have a family or personal history of heart problems and both are healthy and active. The only thing known for sure is that without those AED machines at the scene, the teens wouldn't have survived.
Sudden cardiac arrest, or SCA, is the leading cause of death in young athletes. About 1,000 students in the United States die each year from SCA, according to the Minnesota State High School League, which is promoting the "Anyone Can Save A Life" emergency response program for school districts. Without CPR and a shock from an AED in the first three to five minutes, sudden cardiac arrest is 100 percent fatal.
The average response time for paramedics is eight to 10 minutes and while Minnesota high schools are often equipped with AEDs, staff and students may not know how to use them. About 90 percent of Minnesota high schools have at least one AED on site but 60 percent don't have a well-defined plan in place to handle after-school emergencies, according to the MSHSL.
Lisa Bednar said after her son collapsed all the graduates were ushered into another gym. While she knew he needed an AED machine she had no idea where it was, although she'd passed by it many times. Jeanne Ward said the same thing about the AED machine outside the Pequot Lakes High School gym.
Both moms hope to educate school staff and community members about the importance of AED machines. On Friday night a benefit is planned to not only help pay Michael's medical expenses but to educate the public about CPR and how to use an AED machine, which is easy enough for anyone to use.
Lisa said a similar benefit is being planned in Pierz for Kyle. She and her husband, Steve, also have a daughter, Bridget, 13, and a son, Hunter, 11, who are active in sports. Since Kyle's ordeal Lisa has called schools where her children were to play sports to find out if they had AED machines and where they were located. She would like to see the Pierz School District purchase a portable AED machine that could be taken to sporting events at schools that do not have an AED machine. The family is considering the purchase of an AED machine for their own home. Costs range from $1,800 to $2,500 but they've been told they could buy one for $1,300.
"If there hadn't been a defibrillator, all the CPR in the world wouldn't have saved Kyle, that's what we were told by the doctors," said Lisa. "If this had happened at home, we would have never saved him."
Not only do they have matching ICDs implanted in their chests, but Michael and Kyle were born less than a month apart, play multiple sports and both plan to go to college and major in mechanical engineering. Kyle will attend North Dakota State University in Fargo, N.D., this fall while Michael will be a senior at PLHS. Michael has a twin brother, Jonathan.
Both teens have to take it easy as their bodies heal. Kyle, who owns 15 head of beef cattle and has qualified to compete at the state 4-H competition for the past five years, can't show his cattle this summer out of fear that his arm could be jerked and the ICD could get detached from his heart. Michael decided to not play football this fall in the hopes that he can continue to play basketball next winter. He's a co-captain of the Patriots basketball team. Jeanne said one of the Patriots moms is organizing a CPR class for Michael's teammates.
Both teens have taken their situations in relative stride, considering what they've been through.
"Everybody tells me I'm lucky but it hasn't set in because it felt like I just fell asleep," said Michael.
"I'm just fortunate the people who were there, were there," said Kyle. "I'm glad my mom was there. She's probably a big part of why I'm still here."
JODIE TWEED may be reached at jodie.tweed@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5858.
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