Koons and UC Health Paramedics to be Reunited Tuesday
August 28, 2016 - Frontier League (FL)
Florence Y'alls News Release
Florence, Ky. - This Tuesday, August 30, when the River City Rascals travel to Florence to take on the Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, Rascals pitcher Tim Koons will be reunited with the first aid personnel and emergency crews who helped save his life.
In a pregame ceremony, Tom Dietz, Bill Sutton, and Florence EMS personnel, who were working the first aid booth on May 19 at UC Health Stadium, will be honored in a pregame ceremony for the care they took of Koons.
On that pleasant May evening, Dietz and Sutton were called down to the opposing dugout to look at Koons, River City's scheduled starting pitcher.
"Someone came up to us and said someone needs help," Dietz said. "They told us it's a player and that it was his heart. But we were talking about a professional athlete in his mid-20s, so I really doubted it was his heart."
For Koons, it was supposed to be his second start of the season.
"I was perfectly fine," Koons said, looking back on the experience. "I did my usual warm up and actually felt really good that day."
Then, as he went out to the mound to throw his warm up tosses, things went south.
"I went to stand up [to go to the mound] and I got super lightheaded, flush, and dizzy," he said.
After a few warm-up tosses on the UC Health Stadium mound, Koons had to come off the field.
By the time Dietz and Sutton arrived on the scene, Koons was in the River City dugout. Dietz tested Koons' blood pressure and it seemed fine.
"I took his blood pressure and it was normal, but it just didn't sound right," Dietz said.
Evan though Koons wasn't too symptomatic, Dietz's gut feeling prompted him to hook Koons up to an electrocardiogram (EKG).
"UC Health gives us great equipment to use and, since something didn't sound right, I wanted to use everything I could to make sure he was ok," Dietz said.
"Fortunately, they had an EKG machine with them, so they hooked it up and both of their eyes lit up when they saw what was happening," Koons recalled.
Koons' was suffering from Ventricular Tachycardia and had a heart rate of 240 beats per minute.
"I was shocked because this doesn't happen to kids his age, especially athletes," Dietz said. "In 33 years as a paramedic, this was the first time I've seen it with anyone under 50."
Dietz and Sutton tried to keep Koons calm under the circumstances by downplaying the situation, but Dietz wanted to get him to a hospital as soon as possible.
"Having two experienced paramedics there definitely gave me a sense of calm," Koons said. "They talked to me and reassured me that it's a little strange, but I'm going to be alright."
Florence EMS quickly arrived on the scene. Koons was given medication to take his heart rate down, but it didn't help, so doctors had to shock him to return his heart rate to normal. The pitcher was skeptical at first, but agreed.
"I told [the doctor] I didn't really want to [get shocked], but he reminded me that they do this a lot, so I let them do it," Koons said. "The first shock knocked me out, the second one got my heart going again, and the third one made it feel like someone was literally pulling my chest off the table. Then when the liquid kicked in, it felt like someone kicked me in the chest."
Koons' heart rate returned to normal and he was diagnosed with Wolf Parkinson's White, which means he was born with an abrasion on his heart. It required surgery, but, within a month, he was back on the field, pitching for the Rascals.
Koons is grateful for what Dietz, Sutton, and the EMS crew did that day.
"I appreciate the care they took for me, being there for me on that day, and helping me with the situation," he said.
Koons, Dietz, Sutton, and EMS crews will be reunited in a pregame ceremony on Tuesday, August 30 before the Freedom's matchup with the Rascals. Koons is scheduled to start at UC Health Stadium next week.
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The Florence Freedom are members of the 12-team professional Independent Frontier League and play a 96 game schedule, with 48 home games at UC Health Stadium, located at 7950 Freedom Way in Florence, Kentucky. In 2015, the Frontier League recognized the Freedom as the league's organization of the year and awarded the team with the league's All-Star event. The 2016 season will mark the 13th year the Freedom have played in Florence.
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