Why it won’t just be up to the James family whether Bronny plays for USC — or any other school

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Bronny James committed to USC, but after suffering cardiac arrest during a workout, little is known about his future playing basketball. (AP)

Nine years ago, Chai Baker awoke to a bewildering scene.

The Oregon State basketball player had no idea why he was in a hospital bed, a tube down his throat, a monitor tracking his vital signs and loved ones by his side.

“It was terrifying,” Baker said. “I didn’t know what happened. I didn’t even know where I was or how long I’d been there.”

Baker soon learned that he’d collapsed two days earlier during a workout at Oregon State’s practice facility. At first, teammates noticed him gasping for air in the layup line. Moments later, athletic trainer Tom Fregoso was scrambling to administer CPR and shock Baker’s heart back into rhythm after the 19-year-old crumpled to the court and began convulsing.

The cause of Baker’s cardiac arrest turned out to be hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a hereditary heart condition that Baker had never heard of before. He initially didn’t grasp the severity when his physician told him that it causes the heart muscle to thicken and stiffen abnormally, impeding blood flow and increasing the risk of arrhythmias.

By the time Baker returned to campus after a week in the hospital, he had made up his mind not to let his diagnosis stand in the way of his dreams. He felt fit and strong again. He had no chest pain or other symptoms. He was eager to implant a defibrillator in his chest so that he could return to playing basketball as quickly as possible.

Baker says he would’ve risked playing for Oregon State had the university not intervened and taken the decision away from him. Oregon State director of sports medicine Douglas Aukerman informed Baker in early November 2014 that the threat of another cardiac incident was too severe, that Baker could remain on scholarship but he couldn’t play again for the Beavers.

“When they didn’t clear me to play, it kind of crushed me,” Baker said. “It was…

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Publish date : 2023-08-10 15:07:22

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