At the age of 17, my life seemed perfect. I was heading into my senior year of high school, I had a good group of friends, and most importantly, my dreams were coming true. My dream growing up was always to play basketball in college. It was something I dedicated my life to. I played all year round and spent my summers working out in gyms with my brother John and my best friend Conor. It started to become a lifestyle. The spring and summer heading into my senior year was a big one in terms of getting recruited by colleges. As I played in the spring colleges started watching. I started getting letters sent to my house. Coaches were calling my parents and me to sell their university. It was a very exciting time for everyone. Everything I had worked for my whole life was starting to pay off.
On August 24, 2006, my entire life changed, in one second. I woke up that morning with my brother. We went to our school where we would complete our daily basketball workout. Following the workout, we went to the local recreation center where we were both serving as counselors for my father’s basketball camp. At about 8:30 that morning I changed my shirt and that is the last thing I remember from that day. Apparently, two hours later around 10:30 as I was sitting on the bleachers coaching some kids during their game, I slumped over onto the floor. People thought it was a joke. Someone came over and told me to get up.
The trainer froze. There was no AED on site. I was in cardiac arrest. More later… Mike
Mike – this is an amazing story – thank you so much for sharing it with our community and we’re looking forward to hearing more from you!