By now you've probably read the bulk of this story about Danny Berger collapsing during practice Tuesday, being revived using a defibrillator, and flown down to Murray in critical condition.
As of right now, that's all we know. There's speculation of other things, but right now, just seems to be speculation. Knowing USU athletics, I assume they are gathering as much info as they know about the situation (emphasis on the word "know") before they put out any kind of release on this. A person's health is a touchy situation, and they're not going to run the risk of putting out anything that still has any speculation left to it.
Tony Jones and Kyle Goon teamed up for this brief report, which includes a bit about Danny's sister posting a positive update on Facebook about him. Hopefully that is a sign of more good news to come.
This is one of those situations that sounds like it was legitimately life-threatening, which is terrifying for Berger and everyone close to him. Sports are a whole lot less important than his health right now, and we can only hope that better news comes out as the night goes on and into tomorrow.
If things are more serious than what we've heard so far, Wednesday's game at BYU should undoubtedly be postponed. But again, we'll see what other news develops.
WHAT THE PAST HAS TAUGHT US
We had some pretty terrifying fears not much more than a year ago about another one of our own when Chuckie Keeton was wheeled off the field on a stretcher in Hawaii. That was another scary moment that left us wondering if he would ever fully recover and be able to get back to his normal life. Luckily Keeton did indeed recover, and everything turned out OK. Let's pray that ends up the case with Berger as well.
OTHER HEART ISSUES
Upon first hearing this news, I couldn't help but think that his playing career would be over. The heart is one of those things that you just can't take lightly, and if it's as serious as things sound, I'm not sure you can ever feel comfortable putting the stresses of Division-1 athletics on a guy's heart again.
We've also seen both ends of the spectrum with heart issues in recent years at USU too. Back in the 2009-10 season, Nate Bendall had a minor heart issue that needed to be addressed, had surgery, missed only one game, and was right back at it.
On the flip side, offensive lineman Christian Browne-Frazier had a heart attack in 2009 and was never able to play again.
For an athlete to have the chance to play the game they love taken away from them is a heartbreaker, but there can be plenty more to life than just sports. Hopefully Berger gets to experience the happier ending to things here.
Regardless of everything else, #PrayForDanny.
Get well soon!
Great perspective!
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