'I was pretty scared'
ALAN BABBITT
Brad Arendsen will take a few deep breaths as he races up and down the court at the Breslin Center tonight.
His parents, Steve and Jean, will watch closely.
Most of the time they'll cheer on their son and his Zeeland East basketball teammates as they play for a spot in the Class B state championship game.
For a few fleeting moments, they also might study his mannerisms to make sure he's all right.
Repeated clean bills of health from doctors don't remove all of the concern for someone who had open-heart surgery as a third-grader.
TIPOFF
What: Class B state semifinals
Who: Zeeland East vs. Bridgeport
When: 6 p.m. today
Where: Breslin Center, East Lansing
Radio: WPNW-AM 1260, WHTC-AM 1450, WBBL-AM 1340
Tickets: $7. Available at the Breslin Center box office.
"As the game goes by, you can see him huffing and puffing," Jean said, referring to Tuesday's state quarterfinal win over East Grand Rapids. "You think, 'I hope he's all right. Would he give me a sign that he wasn't OK?'
"We don't even bring this up with Brad. There's no need to dwell on it."
Brad is enjoying a memorable senior season with the Chix.
Zeeland East owns a 26-0 record and is the highest-remaining ranked team competing for a Class B state title. The Chix stood second in the final Associated Press poll.
Zeeland East faces 23-2 Bridgeport at 6 tonight in the state semifinals. The winner advances to the 8 p.m. championship game to face either Flint Powers (24-2) or Inkster (24-1).
Brad is a three-year varsity player for the Chix and a two-year starter. He's averaging 8.4 points per game this season and is a key member of a formidable backcourt that includes Mr. Basketball finalist Korey VanDussen.
It's quite a feat for someone who suffered from a heart condition similar to the one that killed NBA Hall of Famer "Pistol" Pete Maravich in 1988 at the age of 40.
Brad was born with a left coronary artery growing in a wrong spot on his heart. He needed bypass surgery at the University of Michigan Hospital on May 7, 2000, — his ninth birthday.
"I remember when the doctors came in and talked with my parents," Brad said. "I didn't really listen to what was going on. I was pretty scared.
"It got fixed. I have checkups every summer. Everything's been going well."
His father considers it a miracle doctors found the exact nature of the problem at all.
Brad suffered from a non-related heart murmur as a child. He was told he would grow out of it.
When he didn't, Brad's parents took him back to their family doctor. From there, they went to Spectrum Hospital Butterworth Campus in Grand Rapids for an ultrasound.
"We thought everything was going to be fine," Jean said. "The girl came in and did an ultrasound. She rose up and went to the heart specialist. He came in and said, 'His left coronary artery is in the wrong place. We usually only see those types of things in autopsies.'"
The life-threatening problem would not have been discovered without the family doctor requesting an ultrasound. The issue was that minute.
"You go back to him and ask him why he wrote that on there," Steve said. "He said, 'I just thought that's what they do.' Had he not wrote that, this never would have been diagnosed."
Two months after the diagnosis, doctors performed a heart catheterization on Brad.
He went in on Monday and returned home on a Friday. Under his Zeeland East uniform, he carries an eight-inch scar down the middle of his chest from the surgery.
Every year since, Brad has undergone a regular checkup with a doctor. He regularly runs on a treadmill to test his heart's health and gets an ultrasound.
Each time, he's been cleared to be active with no limitations.
Steve and Jean are grateful their son is healthy and able to fully enjoy what he loves to do, particularly play basketball with his friends.
They know not everyone else is so fortunate.
They saw young heart patients at the University of Michigan Hospital who weren't as healthy as Brad. They heard about Holland basketball player Taylor DeRoo collapsing and nearly dying in November from a heart-related problem before making a miraculous recovery and return to the court in February.
"Any time you see a young kid in sports have heart issues, you wonder what ultimately happened, but you never actually know. Maybe nothing would have happened to Brad," Jean said. "He should never have any trouble again."
WATCH FOR TRAFFIC DELAYS
Construction on U.S. 127 near East Lansing could impact travel time for those headed to the Breslin Center for the boys basketball state tournament this weekend.
Traffic will be reduced to one lane both northbound and southbound on U.S. 127, which may lead to delays.
The Michigan High School Athletic Association advises spectators to allow for extra travel time and seek alternate routes to the Breslin Center.
One recommendation for those coming from Zeeland is taking I-96 east to I-496 east toward downtown Lansing. Get off at Trowbridge Road exit and take Trowbridge to the Breslin Center.
SENTINEL BLOGS
The MHSAA is hosting an inaugural HoopFest at Breslin Center this weekend. Read more at blogs.hollandsentinel.com/alan.