Instincts help save dad, avoid disaster
Published: February 22, 2007
‘I don’t want to be called a hero’
Kevin Lindenberg instinctively grabbed the steering wheel with one hand and the van’s brake with the other.
The vehicle, the Rockford Guilford junior figures, was going 75 to 80 miles per hour as they approached Schaumburg’s Woodfield Mall on Super Bowl Sunday. His dad, Jim, who was driving, suddenly had a seizure.
Kevin was sitting in the passenger seat, with his mom Mary in the back seat. It was a trip the family had taken countless times, as Lindenberg’s Rockford Icemen hockey team plays the majority of its roughly 70-game seasons in the Chicago suburbs.
There was no reason for this day to be any different. There was no warning that it would be unlike any day they’d experienced.
“She was frantic,” Kevin said of his mother.
Kevin knew he couldn’t afford to be.
“I was sort of in shock,” he said before practice Monday at Riverview Ice House. “I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t really think about what happened. I just thought about what to do.”
First thing? Gain control of the speeding van.
“I just grabbed the wheel and got it over to the side of the road,” Kevin said.
Elapsed time?
“Thinking back, real time was just a couple of seconds,” he said. “It seemed like about five minutes.
“Some parts of it seem to be in slow motion. Some parts are sort of a blur.”
Next, he realized his dad needed CPR. Kevin had taken the class his freshman year, and was glad he paid attention.
“It was a long time ago,” Kevin said. “I didn’t think I’d remember it. It’s amazing. It just kicked in. I didn’t have to do it that long, just chest compressions.”
Good fortune swiftly arrived in the form of good Samaritans and, almost instantaneously, an ambulance. Plus, a hospital with a neurological unit was only 200 feet away.
The cause of Jim’s problem was diagnosed as a mass in his brain. A biopsy was performed, with the results expected by early next week. Jim returned home last Saturday.
“The waiting is pretty tough,” Kevin said. “It’s probably the hardest part.”
Returning to routines has helped. He missed four days of school — and three days of hockey.
“Once you get on the ice, you can get your mind off of it, which is good,” he said. “And all my teachers have been real good about it.
“I look at things a lot differently. The team has been great helping out. It’s been hard, but I’ve had a lot of support on and off the ice.”
The reaction he gets is appreciated, yet nearly embarrasses him.
“A lot of people come up to me and the first thing they say is ‘heroic reaction,’” he said. “I don’t want to be called a hero in any sense possible. Because, in my mind, a hero is so much more than what I did. I’d have done it for anybody.
“Being called a hero, I don’t associate myself with any heroic action. But everybody who comes up to me, all the support has helped that much more.”
Icemen coach Tim Mattila wasn’t surprised by Kevin’s response.
“He’s a quality kid,” Mattila said. “You really don’t know how you’re going to react. It doesn’t surprise me he handled it properly.”
Mattila said his initial concern was for the family.
“The next thing was, do we play the game?” Mattila said. “If things didn’t work out, I would have had no problem forfeiting the game.”
Now, Kevin is trying to catch up on his classes and maintain his hockey skills and stamina. Still, he can’t stop thinking about his dad.
“You always have that concern of more seizures,” he said. “You just hope and pray. You prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”
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