Dowling Catholic freshman football head coach Claude Wilkins collapsed on the team bus en route to Waterloo West in September. He tells Deacon Mark Campbell how a last-minute seating choice put his athletic trainer at his side, how his staff responded, and how prayer fueled his return to his players.
Less than three weeks after suffering a cardiac emergency on the way to a road game, Dowling Catholic freshman head coach Claude Wilkins joins Deacon Mark Campbell to share his story.
Coach Wilkins — 17 years on the Dowling staff, 15 as head coach at the freshman level — describes a game day that began like any other, the decision to invite athletic trainer Blake Willey to sit beside him at the front of the bus, and the coaches who caught him and began CPR within moments. After paramedics restored his pulse and surgeons cleared a major blockage, his doctors encouraged a slow, steady return.
He reflects on seeing his players' faces again, the prayer they shared when he first visited the team, and his gratitude to everyone who helped bring him back. Deacon Mark closes with a prayer of thanksgiving to Christ the Divine Physician.
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