Assistant Coach Back To Work After Near-Death Experience
By Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
Because he stopped first in the equipment room and then made his way up a back staircase in the Casanova Center, men’s golf assistant coach Van Williams’ arrival at work Tuesday was greeted with little fanfare.
That belied the improbability of the act. Williams returned to work at Oregon on Tuesday, less than two weeks after suffering sudden cardiac arrest while running, an event that caused his heart to stop for some eight minutes before he was revived.
Back on the day of the emergency, Nov. 30., Williams was all but dead. Tuesday morning he was sitting at his desk in the golf suite at the Casanova Center, sporting a heart monitor, nursing some sore ribs from the chest compressions he received while being revived, but otherwise none the worse for wear.
“It’s such a relief, I can’t even explain it,” UO head coach Casey Martin said. “Van’s like a brother to me. I’m just so thankful he’s not only alive, he’s OK and able to work. Because when I walked into the ER, the thought that flashed through your mind, it wasn’t good.”
Because the Ducks are between their fall and spring competitive seasons, Williams had mostly administrative work to attend to. He filed some paperwork related to a recruiting trip he made before the incident, and ordered some team apparel.
Williams said he’s never minded those mundane daily tasks. Now he has a new appreciation for being able to do even that.
“Ultimately at the end of the day, I’m just thankful that God has his hand on it,” Williams said. “I’ve never questioned that. I trust he’s got a plan and he’s going to direct those steps.”
Williams, a two-sport athlete in college and father of four, left the house Nov. 30 to join his wife, Dani, at the end of a long run she was on. Fortunately, he was on a well-trafficked street in North Eugene when he dropped to the pavement as his heart stopped.
Had he been on a less-travelled path, Williams might never have gotten up. But an ER nurse happened to drive by and see Williams on the sidewalk. The nurse stopped and began CPR, raising Williams’ odds of survival from around 10 percent closer to 50-50.
Despite those efforts, the worst was feared when Williams eventually reached the hospital. “This wasn’t just, hey, he had a heart issue,” said Martin, who arrived at the hospital less than an hour after the incident. “This was, he was dead.”
Williams was sedated and hypothermia was induced to slow his metabolism and reduce the risk of brain injury. A day later, a Monday, Williams began responding to nurses’ prompts. He woke up that evening in intensive care. By Tuesday, he was able to get to his feet, and was removed from intensive care.
In 48 hours, Williams had gone from all but dead to standing upright. “There’s no doubt in my mind there was definitely some divine intervention,” he said.
And then, Tuesday of this week, he was back at work.
“I had heard that he was going to be okay, but seeing him walk down the hall is when it really, truly hit me,” said Jennifer Elston, an athletic department administrative assistant who works with men’s golf. “He was going to be okay. We were going to keep our Oregon family intact. And I can’t explain the relief I felt in that moment.”
Williams is still unable to drive; his wife drove him to work Tuesday, and a friend picked him up for lunch. That’s about the only medical restriction he faces, less than two weeks after his near-death experience.
He doesn’t remember anything from the day of the incident. Williams recalls watching the second half of the Civil War football game with Martin on Nov. 29, going home that night, and then nothing else until he woke up in the hospital two days later. That’s when he learned how close he’d been to disaster.
Martin, who was caddied by Williams during his professional career, said the incident was a reminder not to “sweat some of the small stuff,” and that most who suffer sudden cardiac arrest aren’t as fortunate as Williams. “My heart bleeds for those people,” Martin said. “I’m just so grateful this ended differently.”
