Heart of the matter: West's Sowers rebounding from near-death experience

May 9—TRAVERSE CITY — Karin Chrostek knows the dates well. They're burned into her memory.

They're the days she almost lost the oldest of her three children.

Traverse City West softball player Kaci Sowers, Chrostek's only daughter, nearly died 15 months ago.

Sowers returned to the lineup this spring following significant time away from the game, starting at three different spots for the 14-6-1 Titans, but the road back hasn't been easy.

Nor is it over.

In February 2020, Sowers suffered from cardiac tamponade, a condition where a buildup of fluid around the heart compresses it and disrupts normal function. Within days of feeling ill, the Titans standout stood on the verge of death, her organs shutting down.

The power hitter didn't lose hope through it all, and softball turned out to be her light at the end of the tunnel.

Feb. 27, 2020

Kaci told a coach she didn't feel well after a pitching lesson, even though she felt the bullpen session was one of her best. A fever started.

Sowers' fever lasted two days while staying with her father. She experienced upper back pain, vomiting and spent a night lying on the bathroom floor.

Frustrated, she started looking up symptoms on her own. When she searched for "upper back pain," almost all the results referred to cardiac issues.

When Sowers returned to her mother's home, she had trouble walking and fainted. She needed help getting into the house.

"I thought it was the flu," Chrostek said.

It wasn't. The flu would've been preferable.

What infected Sowers was a virus. This happened just before coronavirus broke loose in the United States, but they later found out COVID-19 wasn't the culprit.

However, a similar viral infection prompted a drastic overreaction by Sowers' immune system. She developed myocarditis, a heart muscle inflammation that can also be a side effect of viruses in athletes.

Sowers' body began to flood the sac surrounding her heart with fluid. The human heart typically has around 15 milliliters of protective fluid around it. They'd later find out Kaci had roughly 400 milliliters, and it was constricting the heart's ability to function properly.

March 2, 2020

Chrostek delivers her daughter to urgent care in Traverse City after she's dehydrated and weak. She had to carry Kaci over her back to get into the car and keep a window open so the wind in her face helped keep her conscious.

Finding out the urgent care isn't IV-capable, they go to Munson Medical Center's emergency room.

While waiting and filling out paperwork, Sowers' body starts shutting down. They don't know it at the time, but she's experiencing organ failure. Her internal organs are shutting off one at a time.

"She just vanished," Chrostek said. "Her pupils dilated. She was shaking. She went pale white."

She remembers a nurse approaching and saying, "This patient looks toxic."

"I didn't know I was close to death," Sowers said. "But I was trying to stay alive."

Chrostek recalls the doctor there turning white upon seeing the images an ultrasound produced. A cloud of white fluid surrounded Kaci's entire heart.

"I will never forget the doctor's face," Chrostek said. "He was panicking."

Doctors said the 15-year-old was too unstable to airlift to Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids. They didn't think she'd live long enough to survive the 40-minute flight.

After some debate, doctors at Munson decided to perform a paracardiocentisis to drain fluid off the heart. Munson isn't a pediatric surgery location, creating the debate.

One of the risk factors listed on procedure documents: "Death."

"That catches your attention," Chrostek said.

The paracardiocentisis removed four syringes full of fluid from around Sowers' heart. It stabilized her enough for transport to DeVos.

"I think the doctors played it well by not telling us how severe it was," Chrostek said.

Kaci was so drugged up that she asked one of the helicopter crew for a souvenir T-shirt or "merch."

"I just remember going into the room and having so many people around me," Sowers said. "They asked my pain level. I said, 'nine,' but it was probably more like a 10. That's the athlete in me."

Dr. Heather Sowinski was the cardiologist on duty when Sowers arrived at DeVos' intensive care unit.

Another ultrasound revealed the absence of fluid, but poor heart function.

"Definitely when she was in Munson, she was very close to dying," Sowinski said.

Sowinski said Sowers had coxsackie B virus, which can cause pericardial effusion, a buildup of fluid around the heart. It also led to the myocarditis.

Recovery from myocarditis generally falls into one of three categories, each comprising about one-third of cases, Sowinski said. One group experiences recovery within three months, with residual scarring. The second group never recovers, but stays stable. The third continues to deteriorate, eventually needing a transplant.

Luckily, Sowers fell into the first group. Sowinski said being young and athletic definitely helped the recovery.

"It was a blessing and a curse," Sowinski said. "She definitely had the personality that she was going to recover and be back on the field. But that also causes some worry."

Sowers spent 10 days at DeVos before doctors deemed her healthy enough to return to Traverse City.

Changes

In layman's terms, cardiac tamponade is similar to a severe heart attack in an adult.

Kaci wasn't allowed to lift more than five pounds for three months. Softball bats weigh a little less than two pounds, but seemed far off.

The road back took six months, and Sowers needed to pass a stress test before returning to the field.

That summer she played on a limited basis for the Grand Rapids Elite travel team, despite having lost seven miles per hour on her fastball and seeing a decrease in bat speed. After all, she'd nearly died and lost 10 pounds in the process. She played in one tournament in July.

Sowers tried out again for Elite that August, but was apprehensive after experiencing an irregular heartbeat and opted to stay closer to home with the TC Thunder instead, where former TC West coach Kathy Breece leads the squad.

Sowers still experiences some irregular heartbeats.

"She definitely has a very competitive spirit in her and was very determined to recover and do whatever she could to play softball again," Sowinski said.

Chrostek, a 44-year-old preschool teacher at Long Lake Elementary at the time, started a new career as a cardiac nurse at Munson after the experience. She learned enough from Kaci's experience to impress at an interview for another position, and took an offer as a nurse assistant and telemetry technician in the cardiac department last July.

Sowers, who always possessed an interest and aptitude for science and math, now also wants to go into the cardiac field. She's taking an anatomy class this semester at West.

"This really focused her," Chrostek said.

An MRI one year after the trip to DeVos revealed scar tissue on Sowers' left ventricle, something uncommon in teenagers. A lifelong risk of arrhythmia comes with that.

With no pediatric cardiac rehabilitation centers in northern Michigan, Sowers was on her own. She and her mother had to figure out rehab themselves, establishing limits on stressful activities, including caffeine intake.

"She was worried she wouldn't be the same softball player," Chrostek said. "So she changed her priorities. She shifted her academics. I think she's having more fun with it. She identified as a softball player first and everything else second. That shifted."

Just as important, Chrostek has her daughter back.

"I'm so glad her hand is warm, and her lips are pink," Chrostek said. "It took so long to get that back."

Bounce back

Things obviously changed since 2019, when Sowers immediately turned into an everyday standout for the Titans.

She smacked six home runs as a freshman — playing in one of the biggest fields in northern Michigan — with 29 RBIs and 27 runs. She hit .337 with a 1.022 OPS, also posting a 2.29 earned-run average on the mound.

Trying to get back to that level after such a serious health crisis turned into another issue. Sowers put pressure on herself to live up to her own expectations.

"I didn't have the passion," Sowers said. "I was feeling down. I felt I wasn't going to be as good as I was as a freshman. I mean, I was on the Dream Team for the Record-Eagle. I hit six home runs."

Two seasons later, after missing the 2020 campaign that would have been taken by the coronavirus anyway, she's hitting .214 with a home run and 11 RBIs, 22 runs and nine stolen bases in 18 games heading into Saturday's contests at Saginaw Swan Valley. She's also struck out 29 batters in 14.2 innings with a 3-1 record in five games (one relief appearance) as the Titans' third pitcher. She was 3-for-9 with an RBI, two runs and a steal Saturday in Saginaw, batting second.

Titans head coach Dave Kenny affectionately calls Sowers "dog."

"She may or may not be what she was two years ago," TC West softball coach Dave Kenny said, "but I believe she will be. She will be."

The competitive junior plays center field when Bell Gulliver pitches and third base when Brittany Steimel takes the mound.

"She's a tenacious player," Kenny said. "She comes in wanting to win. She loves her teammates. When she's on base, she's always looking for the steal sign. If she doesn't get it, she gives me a look."

Sowers said in addition to family, her team and coaches supported her every step of the way.

"I'm still trying to work hard and be the player I used to be," Sowers said. "I'm just more happy to be playing the sport and be in the moment. I'm grateful for the experience. It made me realize how strong I am. It'll always be there with me."

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