Scott ‘Scooter’ Ward cites ‘medical miracle’ as he continues on road to recovery from heart surgery

Wearing a blue Kansas Jayhawk hat and gray KU sweatshirt, Scott “Scooter” Ward sat in a wheelchair Wednesday in a visitor’s lounge at Kansas Transitional Care Center, telling a guest how fortunate he feels to be alive.

“I met with the surgeon a couple days ago and asked him what he thought when we were going into surgery. He said, ‘I didn’t feel like you had a shot,’ ’’ said Ward, KU’s associate athletic director for academic and career counseling, in an exclusive interview with The Kansas City Star.

“It is a medical miracle to even think how close you are to being done, to where in two months you can be fully back to doing what you are doing, which is just amazing,” he said.

Ward suffered a torn aorta on the morning of Oct. 7 in his and wife Robin’s Lawrence home, and following a series of heroic efforts by various individuals, he survived emergency heart surgery later that day and is now storming toward complete — yes complete — recovery.

Ward has been taken off all medications. He has no dietary restrictions.

The 1991 KU graduate from Kingman is merely waiting for his sternum — which had to be cracked during surgery — to heal a bit more before he returns from the Kansas City rehab facility to Lawrence and resumes work as academic adviser for KU volleyball and men’s basketball.

“I think it’d be nice to get to Senior Night,” Ward said of KU’s volleyball home finale against Iowa State on Nov. 19. “I think we’ll be there,” he said, noting his sternum needs another three weeks before he can, “really step up rehab. I had X-rays two days ago. Everything is in place where it is supposed to be.”

Ward and his wife — Robin performed CPR on Scott, coming to the rescue when he incurred the torn aorta while he was taking a shower about 8 a.m. on Oct. 7 — are amazed and thankful that a sore sternum is currently the only thing standing in the way of Scott being 100 percent back to his old self.

“From collapsing at home, to getting to LMH (Lawrence Memorial Hospital where doctors kept Ward’s body temperature low to protect the heart the best they could) and Kansas City (he was flown to University of Kansas hospital) … the percentage of surviving that is less than 10 percent,” said Scott, who broke his neck in 1986 when he was a freshman at Hutchinson Community College and suffered paralysis from the neck down.

“I am so grateful. I always talk about energy — people passing energy to other people. I truly think of those doctors and nurses, all my friends and family that were all in that same ‘collective energy’ pointing toward me. Whether you want to call ‘collective energy’ being a miracle or something spiritual or something religious, I think we can call it all of that. It brought me through,” Ward said.

The 50-year-old Ward — word of his being rushed to University of Kansas Hospital surfaced during the day on Oct. 7 — entered surgery about 5 p.m., with up to 100 friends and family members in the hospital lobby lending emotional support.

When one of the surgeons, Dr. Emmanuel Daon (Greg Muehlebach and George “Trip” Zorn joined Daon on the surgical team), entered the lobby about 8:30 p.m. to inform the group that surgery went well, “everyone burst into applause,” Robin Ward said.

“It gives me chills thinking how incredible it was. A lot of people stayed. Then it felt like a party. The Morningstars (Roger and Linda who own Morningstar’s New York Pizza in Lawrence) brought pizza. Everybody was eating pizza. We were passing out leftover pizza to other families who were waiting there and put up with all of us. At midnight, we had a toast that we made it to the next day,” Robin Ward said, noting KU basketball radio color announcer Greg Gurley of KU’s Williams Fund had brought some beverages.

Several of Ward’s buddies from the states of North Carolina, Alabama, Texas and California headed to Kansas City and stayed with Ward for not hours, but several days. They played cards to pass the time, even dealing the unresponsive Scott a hand or two.

They and Robin spoke to Scott through the first couple nights, trying to get him to respond post-surgery.

He first opened his eyes on Saturday, the day after the surgery.

He first was able to speak on Monday.

On Tuesday, he was able to put sentences together, “which shocked the doctors. They thought I might be doing speech therapy for a year,” Ward said, noting sometimes brain damage occurs because of blood flow problems following an aorta tear. His speech remains fine and his only memory loss is the week leading up to the tearing of the aorta. For some reason, he can’t remember anything about those seven days.

“It’s your body’s way of protecting you from that trauma,” Robin Ward said.

On Wednesday, a handful of days after surgery, Ward was able to watch KU’s home volleyball match against Texas Tech on the internet. He became animated when the TV announcers discussed the volleyball players wearing “#Rootforscoot” T-shirts in warmups.

“He was like, ‘What? What is going on? Where am I and why do they have my name on their shirts?’ ’’ Robin said.

Robin at that point told Scott what had happened to him, but he was skeptical.

“Then I showed him your article, the first you wrote,” she said of a KC Star reporter’s initial story on Ward’s situation. “That’s the first time he believed us, what happened to him. I read the article to Scooter. He said, ‘(he) wrote an article?’ Then he believed it so there you go,” Robin added with a laugh.

Members of KU’s volleyball team and coach Ray Bechard came to visit the day after the 3-0 win over Texas Tech.

The basketball team and coach Bill Self stopped by en route to the Minnesota-Miami exhibition game on Oct. 8 at the Sprint Center.

Self and Bechard have returned to KC to see Ward. More than once.

Hundreds of folks have visited Dr. Ward (Scott received his Ph.D. in 1996), Robin indicated.

“I am so thankful for our friends and family. They have been absolutely amazing. The other people you wouldn’t even expect to jump on board have been pretty amazing,” Scott Ward said, noting there is absolutely no lingering damage to his heart which “immediately started pumping well after they patched the leak.”

“People from Lawrence and KC bring something to eat, come to hang out and talk which is super. People in my KU family have been amazing starting at the top. A lot of people have come in the evening to have a sandwich or watch whenever the Cubs are on,” said Ward, a die-hard Cubs fan.

“It’s been overwhelming,” Ward said. “There are a lot of people to thank and appreciate. I am humbled by all of the support and how much everybody is wanting to know how things are going.”

Folks to thank include Lawrence Memorial E.R. doctor Caleb Trent, Robin said, “and the ER staff at LMH. We were very fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. Things happened in the nick of time all day,” she added. “Many people had a hand in saving Scott’s life that day.

“I wish I knew better how to put this into words but I will try … You never want something traumatic like this to happen in your life, but it has offered a very rare and beautiful glimpse of people’s love in action. We are overwhelmed and amazed by what wonderful friends and family we have,” Robin Ward said.

This story was originally published November 2, 2016 at 7:44 PM with the headline "Scott ‘Scooter’ Ward cites ‘medical miracle’ as he continues on road to recovery from heart surgery."