A Cubs fan once saved a Brewers fan’s life. Then they became friends
MILWAUKEE — Statistically talking, Tom Schraeder ought to have died when his physique hit the new pavement outdoors the stadium then often called Miller Park. His medical doctors later defined that given the severity of his coronary heart assault, his possibilities of survival have been about 5 %.
But Schraeder lived. Fifteen years later, now 72 and as huge a Brewers fan as ever, he lived to make it again to the ballpark for that yr’s regular-season finale, when Ryan Braun and CC Sabathia helped snap Milwaukee’s torturous 26-year postseason drought. He lived to see his daughter beat most cancers, and to see each of his kids have kids of their very own. He lived to fortunately retire final fall after a 50-year profession caring for adults with disabilities.
He lived as a result of a Cubs fan was in the best place on the proper time to avoid wasting him.
“There are so many things I would have missed if I had died,” Schraeder mentioned. “But I wasn’t done doing what I was supposed to do in my life.”
July 31, 2008, was a sizzling summer time day, and a awful day for Brewers followers like Schraeder. The Cubs took an 11-1 lead into the ninth inning earlier than the Brewers scored three meaningless runs to mercifully end a four-game Chicago sweep. Schraeder, a season-ticket holder from Barneveld, Wis., had taken the week off work and rented a lodge room in Milwaukee for all 4 video games. His brother deliberate to attend the sequence finale however needed to cancel on the final second.
So, Schraeder was alone as he hustled towards his automobile for the drive dwelling to Barneveld, a village west of Madison the place he and his spouse, Trici, had constructed a house after elevating their son, Jeremy, and daughter, Juliet, in close by Dodgeville. Schraeder was having fun with a uncommon weeklong trip from his work with Hodan Community Services, a non-profit in Mineral Point that gives alternatives for particular wants adults. He obtained the job straight out of school, rose to government director at 25 years outdated and held the place for the subsequent 40 years earlier than transitioning to half time, after which retiring final September after 50 years in all. So revered was Schraeder for his selfless work that he’ll be grand marshal of Mineral Point’s Fourth of July parade subsequent month.
“Here’s a story that best encapsulates who my dad is,” Jeremy Schraeder mentioned. “My daughter, she’s 11, and she’s always picking out her grandparents’ car by the license plates. She remembers her grandpa’s license plate because it has the letters ABK, for always be kind. ‘That’s what grampy is,’ she says.”
What occurred in that parking zone — Money 2, named for former Brewers infielder Don Money — is all second hand to Schraeder, as a result of he spent the subsequent a number of days in a medically-induced coma at St. Luke’s Hospital. He discovered the small print later from witnesses, paramedics and medical doctors, and from a 36-page diary saved by Trici to chronicle each step. Each yr on July 31, she mentioned, Tom pages by way of the diary to recollect his ordeal.
“I collapsed by my car,” Schraeder mentioned. “Some people passing by thought I was having a seizure, so they just let me go through it, thinking that was the right thing to do. But then some people walked by who had some medical experience, including Jim Saletta.”
Saletta is the Cubs fan on this story, however the residents of Huntley, Ill., knew him as chief of the native fireplace division. He retired from that position in 2012 however, at 72, nonetheless consults for the Illinois Fire Chiefs Association. On that day in 2008, Saletta had the day without work to soak up a Cubs sport with fellow firefighters.
Seeing Schraeder face down on the bottom, Saletta’s coaching kicked in.
“I turned over Tom and his face was blue,” Saletta mentioned.
Schraeder’s coronary heart had stopped beating.
“There’s a thing called a chain of survival for someone who goes into cardiac arrest,” Saletta mentioned. “I don’t need to get too technical with it, however sure issues should occur in sequence for an individual to have long-term survival. Only about 10 % make it.
“One, you have to recognize someone is down. Two, you’ve got to start CPR within the first few minutes. You have to defibrillate a few minutes after that. Then you have to get them to the hospital. And all of those things happened for Tom ideally as they would have happened. He was meant to be kept around.”
Saletta started performing mouth-to-mouth and chest compressions and was inspired that Schraeder’s shade started to enhance. When the stadium’s on-site paramedics arrived, they defibrillated Schraeder’s coronary heart a number of instances earlier than it started beating once more. And when the ambulance arrived, Schraeder was administered cardiac medicine and transported to St. Luke’s Hospital. It was considered one of solely two hospitals within the nation on the time, medical doctors informed Trici, that was performing therapeutic hypothermia for cardiac arrest, during which a affected person’s physique temperature is cooled far beneath regular for a interval of days. That provides the guts an opportunity to relaxation earlier than surgical procedure.
On the fourth day following his coronary heart assault, Schraeder underwent a quadruple bypass. He was hospitalized for 2 weeks afterward. For three months, he couldn’t work.
“I had no indication that I had heart trouble prior to this,” he mentioned. “So it was a real shocker.”
Even on the depths of his restoration, baseball was a companion. Jeremy learn to his father from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel sports activities part, even when he wasn’t certain whether or not his dad was listening. Because of one of many medicines he was on, Trici mentioned, Tom would wake with short-term reminiscence loss, unaware of why he was within the hospital with tubes in all places. It was a daunting ordeal. Eventually, the household discovered the one factor that soothed him: Listening to the Brewers radio broadcast.
“The experience has been a real lens to see our lives through, and to think about hardships or difficult times,” mentioned Schraeder’s daughter, Juliet Whitsett, who fought, and beat, Hodgkin’s lymphoma starting only a yr after her dad’s coronary heart assault. “We only have so much time on this Earth. We only have one precious life, and we have to live it.”
As Tom recovered, Trici wrote letters to everybody concerned in saving his life. She thanked them for his or her care and supplied updates about his regular restoration.
One return letter, dated Nov. 6, 2008, stood out. It got here from Jim Saletta.
Good to listen to from you and listen to that you’re recovering effectively. Your story definitely is considered one of beating the chances. I agree you have got been given a second likelihood. There is a motive to consider that you’ve got a objective but to meet on this life. I personally do not consider in coincidence. Everything is falling into place for you. I’m impressed along with your life’s work and I’m glad that it is possible for you to to proceed to assist others.
Thanks for the baseball tickets. Unfortunately, each of our groups did not advance. The good news is that it made for an thrilling season. Maybe subsequent season, we will join for a sport. Your place or mine? I did confess to my spouse that I kissed one other man with a mustache. I provided to shave off for her profit, however she needs me to maintain it. Also, it will need to have been fairly a sight to see a gaggle of Cubs followers beating up on a Brewers fan, the potential notion of us whereas doing CPR. I’m grateful that the safety workers realized what we have been doing. With Thanksgiving quick approaching, this a lot is to be glad about.
Take care. Have a pleasant vacation.
They met for the primary time the next summer time for a Cubs-Brewers sport at Miller Park and have renewed the custom yearly since, alternating venues between Milwaukee and Chicago. In Milwaukee, Schraeder picks up the tab for tickets. At Wrigley Field, Saletta returns the favor. The solely exception was 2020, when groups performed with no followers within the stands throughout the pandemic.
“When we went to the first game, I thought it was a one and done deal,” Saletta mentioned. “But we hit it off right away.”
“I always say it’s the one day that I don’t feel too bad if the Brewers don’t win,” Schraeder mentioned. “I’m still rooting for the Brewers, of course, but if the Cubs win, I’m happy for my friend.”
This yr, they’ll collect their households at American Family Field on July 6 — fittingly, the finale of a four-game sequence between the Cubs and Brewers in Milwaukee. They’re anticipating about 55 folks for a pregame tailgate, together with the entire children and grandkids.
Both males are already training for a ceremonial first pitch. Schraeder has been throwing in Barneveld with a field of six dozen baseballs bought by his spouse. The native highschool invited him to make use of the sphere, which has a goal web so he doesn’t should chase balls too far. He has grandchildren to impress, in spite of everything. Jeremy’s daughter and Juliet’s twin women are all 11 years outdated.
To say Schraeder is grateful doesn’t go far sufficient.
“So much has happened since that day,” he mentioned. “My daughter had a bout with most cancers, she beat it. She was informed she couldn’t have children, she ended up having twins. We’re a really glad household.
“I’ve always been a very optimistic guy. So, that didn’t change. But after the heart attack I felt even more blessed, and I felt that everything happened for a reason. The right people were there. They get me to St. Luke’s, one of the best heart places in the nation. It just reinforced to me that I needed to continue to live my life to help other people as best as I can. And I got to work another 15 years with my friends with disabilities.”
He additionally obtained 15 years and counting of friendship.
“You know, I was a paramedic for 30 years. I was in the fire service for 37 years,” Saletta mentioned. “There have been other occasions where we’ve had saves, but you never know who you’re working on. What’s great about this is that I got to know who Tom was, and he’s a fantastic guy. All the work he has done with the Hodan center, you know, to me, he’s my hero.”
Before he went again to work for others, Schraeder wished to do one thing for himself. Once he was by way of the worst of his instant restoration, he resolved to make it to the ultimate sport of the 2008 common season.
In a accident, the Brewers performed the Cubs.
If you’re a fan of the Brewers sufficiently old to drive a automobile, the sport. It was Sunday, Sept. 28, 2008. Schraeder attended with Jeremy, and so they watched Braun hit a go-ahead dwelling run within the eighth inning earlier than Sabathia completed an entire sport. They caught round with 42,000 different followers to look at the Marlins beat the Mets, and with that, Milwaukee clinched the NL Wild Card. It was the Brewers’ first postseason look since 1982.
At dwelling, Schraeder has a $2 invoice from a pal with the inscription, “Second chances are a blessing.” It’s framed alongside two ticket stubs from 2008, one from July 31 when the Cubs completed a sweep and Schraeder’s life modified, and one other from Sept. 28, the day he returned to the scene and noticed the Brewers triumph.
“Second chances are a blessing,” Schraeder mentioned. “They certainly were for me, and they were for the Brewers, too.”
