Seventeen-year-old Zachary Herold will take his first and likely only steps onto BMO Field Saturday before the club’s contest with the New England Revolution.
[inline_node:3864]Toronto FC will honour Zac in a pre-game ceremony to commemorate a promising soccer career irrevocably swept away.
Training camp heart tests of Herold, a second round selection in last year’s MLS SuperDraft, showed a heart abnormality quickly diagnosed as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The condition thickens a part of the heart muscle. An elevated heatbeat can lead to death and has in the cases of basketball stars Reggie Lewis and Hank Gathers as well as untold high school-aged athletes.
A vaunted member of the US development system, Zac is pondering a new career path: making sure what could have happened to him doesn’t happen to others.
“Of course at first, I was very upset,” he said in a conference call, Friday. “I think I have learned to cope with it recently. I try to see the positive. I am alive. I have traveled the world. I was making it as a pro. I have my life ahead of me and I can be great at something else.
<a href="javascript:void(window.open('http://www.torontofc.neulion.com/tfc/console.jsp?catid=2&id=1927'))"><img src="http://www.theaircanadacentre.com/assets/default/Herold4-280.jpg" border="0"></a> |
<p style="font-size: 10px; margin: 0pt auto;">AUDIO: Herold speaks to the media from Florida on Friday, May 21</p> |
“He texted me from Toronto and said ‘is this it Mom, am I going to die?” said his mother, Beth Inniss. “I was in Florida, and I couldn’t put my arms around him. TFC had us there within 12 hours of the notification. We were able to discuss what his options were.”
“He is the one that has gotten me to where I am today. I remember him saying ‘Mom, if there is a one per cent chance I am going to die on that soccer field, I am not playing. He had the more mature thought process than anyone else in the family.”
Zac is considering how to make sure what could have happened to him doesn’t happen to anyone else.
“I want to get the word out that EKGs have to be done more often,” he said.
“I am exploring the possibility of coaching, being an agent, doing anything in the soccer world. I want to explore more into the heart world, maybe become a cardiologist and maybe help people like me.”
What is so alarming about hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is that it can manifest itself without warning.
“When the doctors told me, everyone was shocked,” Zac said. “I had absolutely no symptoms. I played for national team for three or four years, I never had anything done (to test) my heart. If they would have gotten this done earlier, all of this could have been prevented.
“If people are playing on high school teams or at a high level, even high school athletes should be getting this checked out. We see athletes die from this every year.”
Barring a medical breakthrough he will never escape the condition. Zac and his family have already consulted with the best cardiologists in North America.
“Ultimately I can’t get my heard rate past 130 beats per minute,” he said. “For me, with my condition, that’s not doing much. I can’t lift big weights. My whole life is changed.”
After his moment Saturday, Zac Herold returns home to Florida and the future. He has already been further than most, and he will go much further still.
“So,” an interviewer asked, “is this the last we have seen of you?”
“I hope not,” he said.
We hope not too.
