Rach's recovery is very special

After health problems, the South Range athlete has made it to state this year.
By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
NORTH LIMA -- The problems started almost two years ago, during a high school football game against Mineral Ridge.
The second half had just started and David Rach, then a sophomore outside linebacker for South Range, started to feel a little light-headed.
And his thigh hurt.
And his heart was racing.
A trainer took his pulse and noticed it was pumping at 260 beats per minute, which is, needless to say, a bad thing.
"Obviously, that's not supposed to happen," Rach said.
He was rushed to the hospital and was diagnosed with a treatable heart condition called Wolf Parkinson's White Syndrome.
The treatment included something called a "cardiac ablasion," which basically meant a doctor was going to send wire catheters from his leg up to his heart. The catheters, using radio waves, would shock the heart and get rid of a small nerve bundle causing the problem.
The operation was performed in December at the Cleveland Clinic and, Rach thought, that was the end of it.
He played basketball that winter, qualified for the state track meet in the spring, played football in the fall and, basically, didn't have a problem.
Until this spring.
Felt pain
On the day before his first track meet, Rach started feeling pain in his leg.
"He was so sick, he'd run the 100 meters and just throw up," South Range track coach Jack Nemergut said.
Rach told his teammate, Mike Leskosky, about the pain and Leskosky said, "Maybe you have a blood clot."
"He was totally joking," Rach said, "but he probably saved my life."
Rach went to his doctor in Salem, who told him that since fit 17-year-olds don't usually get blood clots, he was probably fine. But, just to be sure, he got an ultrasound. And, sure enough, they found a clot.
Rach went on blood thinners -- two injections per day -- for about a month and he was hoping to get cleared to run in the Mahoning County track meet. He wasn't. The clot was still there.
And it was bigger.
"That kinda sucked," Rach said.
Another test
So they took another ultrasound and found something else: a wire catheter. The Cleveland Clinic was supposed to remove all six after the original operation. They had removed five.
A week before the district track meet, Rach went through 6 1/2 hours of surgery -- it was supposed to only take 90 minutes -- at the Cleveland Clinic to remove the catheter. He was in the hospital for five days.
He thought his track season was over.
Then, three days before the district meet, he was cleared to run.
"At the beginning of the track season, I was way ahead of where I had been the year before," he said. "I was expecting a really good season. I didn't play basketball; I just lifted all winter.
"But then I couldn't practice for a month and a half. When I got to districts, I was way behind. I wasn't even close to where I was at the beginning of the season."
Thing was, his teammates on the relays (David Maxwell, Dan Holloway, Randy Johnston and Doug Miller) hadn't given up on him.
"It's crazy, but the other kids on his relay team had basically been waiting for him," said Rach's father, David. "There was never any doubts in their minds that he would be back.
Hoping for best
"The rest of us didn't know about that. We were just hoping he'd be able to walk."
The Raiders got through the district meet. Then the craziest thing happened: Rach got fast. And the Raiders got faster.
And when the regional meet ended, Rach and the Raiders had qualified for the state meet in the 4x200- and 4x400-meter relays.
"It's basically a dream come true," Rach said. "Especially for me. We had been talking about it and looking forward to it, but I don't know if we expected it.
"I was just hoping to play football and I recovered much faster than I thought it would. To make it to state this year makes it that much more special."
How will Rach run this weekend? Who knows? Who cares?
Rach's happy to be there and he's going to have plenty of company. The Raiders qualified seven boys for Columbus -- tied with Warren JFK for most in the area.
Awesome
"For most schools, it's good just to have one or two down there," he said. "For us to have this many is awesome."
And if history is any indication, it'll be a good week to be a South Range fan. The Raiders sent seven boys to last year's state meet and all seven finished in the top eight to make the podium and earn all-Ohio honors.
"Their goal this year is to do even better," Nemergut said.
That's a tough goal. But if Rach has proved anything this year, it's that he and his teammates aren't going to shy away from challenges.
"We're really looking forward to it," Rach said. "I don't know what else to say.
"I'm real thankful to God just to be competing."
scalzo@vindy.com