Legendary: The work of Legend trainers saved a Doherty basketball player’s life

PARKER – Aa Massa Mahungu’s name was announced at Legend High School on Feb. 22, the crowd in the basketball court collectively rose to its feet in applause. Mahungu hadn’t done anything significant from a basketball standpoint.

He wasn’t a single-game scoring leader or a record-setting rebounder. For the most part, he looked like any shy high school freshman. He was smiling, but maybe a little apprehensive over the attention he was receiving. Especially when he considering he’s not a Legend Titan. He’s a Doherty Spartan.

But it was attention he was worthy of.

Just over a month earlier, Mahungu was playing in a lower-level game at Legend. At one point, a timeout was called on the floor and Mahungu – like the rest of the team – made his way back to the Spartans bench.

And that’s when all hell broke loose.

**

Jan. 16 was warm, sunny in the Denver area, especially when factoring in the time of year. While across the board in many facets of life, there wasn’t anything too out of the ordinary happening in Colorado. The Denver Broncos were four days removed from losing to the Buffalo Bills in their first playoff game since winning Super Bowl 50.

The Denver Nuggets were coming off a disappointing loss to the Houston Rockets which ended a four-game winning streak.

At South Metro Fire Station 46, everything else was pretty typical for the day until an urgent dispatch call came in.

“We were dispatched to Legend High School for a 16-year-old cardiac arrest,” lead paramedic Jacob Gamboa said. “We didn’t have anything else in our notes other than that.”

Mahungu had collapsed while gathered near the bench during the timeout.

This wasn’t a cramp or a sprained ankle or any of the dozens of issues that would normally put a 16-year-old kid on the floor during a basketball game. Something was seriously wrong and it didn’t take Legend’s on-site medical staff a long time to figure it out.

“It was immediate,” Douglas County School District athletic trainer Maddie England said. “The AD [Dan Singleton] called 911 immediately and got our head athletic trainer Sara [Kramer] and then I came in not long after.”

Everything started escalating and it was clear early in the process this was a life-threatening ordeal. The game administrators started clearing the gym as Kramer and England leaned on their training while waiting for Gamboa and the rest of Engine 46 to arrive.

“Sarah had her fingers on the carotid pulse and I had my fingers on the radial pulse,” England said. “I lost radial pulse before she lost the carotid. As soon as she lost pulse, we got the AED on within seconds.”

The AED is an automated external defibrillator. For anyone who has a seen any medical drama on television, it’s essentially the portable version of the shock paddles design to help a heart regain rhythm.

If a fire extinguisher sits in a case with the instruction “In case of emergency, break glass” an AED might as well say “In case of emergency, obliterate the glass and worry about the cuts some other time.”

For onlookers, it may have felt like 30 minutes. For Kramer and England, maybe it felt like 30 seconds. But within 10 minutes of the 911 call, South Metro was on site and took over the task of saving a young kid’s life.

“We ran in with our cardiac monitor, all of our equipment,” Gamboa said. “We found the young man in cardiac arrest on the gym floor. There was already bystander CPR happening and they already had an AED on him. They had applied one shock already, which is most likely what got his heart rhythm back.”

**

Mahungu was taken to Adventist Hospital in Parker and was eventually transferred to Children’s Hospital in Aurora. His condition was critical and tests revealed a major heart defect.

As he built strength, he underwent surgery on Jan. 22.

When he woke up, everything was a blur.

“I don’t remember anything,” Mahungu said. “The whole day was a blur, I don’t even know how I got to school.”

Much less getting to Legend to play basketball.

Playing basketball for Doherty in so many ways has been godsend for Mahungu. He and his family came to America as refugees from Namibia, South Africa. The Doherty community welcomed him into the school, but the basketball court is where he found true comfort.

He loves the sport because it can provide him an escape from the various sources of stress that can hit a high school-aged kid, especially one from a foreign country.

“Basketball helps me relax,” he said. “When I’m overthinking or just not doing ok, I just play basketball and find relief.”

Playing basketball gave him more than just relief on Jan. 16. It saved his life.

If he was playing in a random pickup game with his friends when he collapsed, there’s no telling what could have happened. In so many ways, playing organized high school basketball was the best thing he could have done.

Athletic trainers tend to be thought of as people that can tape and ankle and perhaps diagnose a concussion. Their training, however, runs much deeper than dealing with sprains and bumps.

The assessment of Mahungu’s condition was made almost instantaneously. As rare a circumstance as it was, the training and background of the personnel on site amounted to a life-saving effort.

Yes, trainers tape ankles. But they have to be so much more because no one knows what can happen in the middle of a game.

“We have to be emergency responders, we have to be physical therapists, we have to be all these different things,” Kramer said. “Part of what makes us different than other medical professions is our ability to switch between those gears instantaneously and assess things so incredibly fast.”

If they weren’t able to do that, Mahungu’s fate would have had a very different outcome that day.

“I really want to highlight the bystander CPR that was given by the athletic staff, student coaches and whoever else was involved,” Gamoba said. “We missed that portion of the call, but whoever applied the AED, the bystander CPR, that’s what saved his life.”

**

Over a month later, Mahungu was sitting with his friends, smiling and laughing in the same gym where he collapsed. Gamboa climbed the stands to say hello and tell Mahungu how great it was that he was on his feet.

And now he’s itching to get back on the basketball court. He’s going through some physical therapy and can partake in some light shooting when it comes to basketball.

But when can he really return to the game?

“March 19,” he said with a big smile.

On an afternoon trip back to Legend, he was able to match faces with the stories he had heard of the people who saved life. From Gamoba to England and Kramer, seeing him walk into the gym alive and well provided a sense of fulfillment that will always be tough to match.

And the Legend community gave all involved the standing ovation they deserved.

When Doherty athletic director Jon Shub had a chance to say a few words, he reminded everyone in the building that while teenagers compete against each other all the time, it’s incredible how much they can rally together when the full weight of life is involved.

“In times of need, rivalries fade, school colors blur and what remains is the true strength of community – two schools, standing together, supporting one another as one family,” Shub said.

And it was one family that was intact because those capable worked effectively to ensure that everyone eventually went home.

The Heroes

The following people were recognized at Legend High School for their life-saving action on Jan. 16:

Legend High School staff:
Sara Kramer – Legend High School athletic trainer
Maddie England – DCSD athletic trainer
Student athletic trainers: Jackson Zimmerman, Lily Lafferty and Meghan Kirkpatrick
Alexis Oswald – Legend High School poms coach
Kendra Gish – Legend teacher
Charlie Ladbrooke – Legend teacher
Joan Stewart – Retired Legend teacher
Dan Simington – Legend athletic director
South Metro Fire:
Lead paramedic Jacob Gamboa
Firefighter Joshua Medina
From Engine 46:
Firefighter Dan Keith
FireFighter Matt Goebel
Engineer Greg Campbell
Captain Brian Delasantos