Post by Todd B on Mar 27, 2007 9:42:10 GMT -5
Bluffton baseball player to undergo his 3rd surgery
Article published March 26, 2007
www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070326/NEWS01/703260360
Tim Berta, the only Bluffton University baseball player who remains hospitalized in Atlanta, is undergoing surgery again tomorrow rather than flying back to Toledo as his family had hoped last week.
"Tell everybody to keep the prayers going. He still needs them," said Mr. Berta's father, Rob, who is with his son.
Tim, 22, remains in critical condition in Grady Memorial Hospital.
The surgery, which will be Tim's third since March 2, when his team's chartered bus plunged off I-75 in Atlanta, is to remove fluid and scar tissue from his chest.
"He's had a little setback," his father said. Tim is suffering from swelling of the brain, a collapsed lung, and broken ribs, collarbone, and shoulder.
Late Saturday night, Rob Berta called his sister and daughters with more bad news: Tim was diagnosed with pneumonia.
That was disappointing news to the crowd of more than 1,000 at a spaghetti dinner fund-raiser held Saturday night in St. Joseph Catholic Church in Ida, Mich. Tim is a 2003 Ida High graduate.
Some heard early last week that the Bertas hoped Tim could be flown to Toledo to further recover.
"Everybody was so excited. Every day, we'd wait for the phone to ring," said Jan Martinson, an aunt of Tim's who is staying with his sisters in Michigan while his parents are with him.
Jimmy McMonagle was among several players who drove about 70 miles from Bluffton for the dinner. Mr. McMonagle, a 21-year-old Ida High graduate, sustained bruises but escaped serious injury.
"I was just starting to fall asleep in the back of the bus when [the driver] turned the wheel real sharp," he said. "I feel very fortunate. I learned that life can end at any time."
Catcher Curtis Schroeder told a Toledo television station that he drove in "to support Tim because he was part of our team and he was loved by everyone on the team. He's just a great guy."
But in Atlanta, the hospital's efforts to wean Tim off of a respirator weren't working.
Doctors learned that his chest cavity was filling with fluids. As they tried to drain that fluid, doctors realized they weren't able to get all of it because of pockets of scar tissue.
The pneumonia diagnosis meant more medication for Tim, who has been kept heavily sedated since the crash that killed seven people - five of his fellow baseball players, the bus driver, and the driver's wife.
Tim had surgeries immediately after the bus crash to remove his spleen and a blood clot that was on his brain.
"This kind of injury is a day-by-day, hour-by-hour situation," Rob Berta said. "He's in this for the long haul."
So too are friends and family.
At the Saturday dinner, the Ida High School student council was selling yellow ribbons with a message to remember Tim. People were signing squares for a prayer quilt that a local woman is making. And there were well-wishers who stopped by just to drop off a check, without even eating.
"It's nice to know when you need it there are people there and you don't even have to ask for the help. You get it," said Angie Gerweck, who coordinated the dinner.
Susan Bugg was among about 100 volunteers who helped put on the dinner. She called Ida "a small town with a big heart."
Article published March 26, 2007
www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070326/NEWS01/703260360
Tim Berta, the only Bluffton University baseball player who remains hospitalized in Atlanta, is undergoing surgery again tomorrow rather than flying back to Toledo as his family had hoped last week.
"Tell everybody to keep the prayers going. He still needs them," said Mr. Berta's father, Rob, who is with his son.
Tim, 22, remains in critical condition in Grady Memorial Hospital.
The surgery, which will be Tim's third since March 2, when his team's chartered bus plunged off I-75 in Atlanta, is to remove fluid and scar tissue from his chest.
"He's had a little setback," his father said. Tim is suffering from swelling of the brain, a collapsed lung, and broken ribs, collarbone, and shoulder.
Late Saturday night, Rob Berta called his sister and daughters with more bad news: Tim was diagnosed with pneumonia.
That was disappointing news to the crowd of more than 1,000 at a spaghetti dinner fund-raiser held Saturday night in St. Joseph Catholic Church in Ida, Mich. Tim is a 2003 Ida High graduate.
Some heard early last week that the Bertas hoped Tim could be flown to Toledo to further recover.
"Everybody was so excited. Every day, we'd wait for the phone to ring," said Jan Martinson, an aunt of Tim's who is staying with his sisters in Michigan while his parents are with him.
Jimmy McMonagle was among several players who drove about 70 miles from Bluffton for the dinner. Mr. McMonagle, a 21-year-old Ida High graduate, sustained bruises but escaped serious injury.
"I was just starting to fall asleep in the back of the bus when [the driver] turned the wheel real sharp," he said. "I feel very fortunate. I learned that life can end at any time."
Catcher Curtis Schroeder told a Toledo television station that he drove in "to support Tim because he was part of our team and he was loved by everyone on the team. He's just a great guy."
But in Atlanta, the hospital's efforts to wean Tim off of a respirator weren't working.
Doctors learned that his chest cavity was filling with fluids. As they tried to drain that fluid, doctors realized they weren't able to get all of it because of pockets of scar tissue.
The pneumonia diagnosis meant more medication for Tim, who has been kept heavily sedated since the crash that killed seven people - five of his fellow baseball players, the bus driver, and the driver's wife.
Tim had surgeries immediately after the bus crash to remove his spleen and a blood clot that was on his brain.
"This kind of injury is a day-by-day, hour-by-hour situation," Rob Berta said. "He's in this for the long haul."
So too are friends and family.
At the Saturday dinner, the Ida High School student council was selling yellow ribbons with a message to remember Tim. People were signing squares for a prayer quilt that a local woman is making. And there were well-wishers who stopped by just to drop off a check, without even eating.
"It's nice to know when you need it there are people there and you don't even have to ask for the help. You get it," said Angie Gerweck, who coordinated the dinner.
Susan Bugg was among about 100 volunteers who helped put on the dinner. She called Ida "a small town with a big heart."