University of Northern Iowa Athletics
Wyatt Lohaus - Cedar Valley Heart Walk
Cedar Valley Heart Walk Set for Saturday
5/18/2016 10:00:00 AM | General
The 2016 Cedar Valley Heart Walk will take place this Saturday at Mudd Advertising in Cedar Falls.
The free walk will get underway at 9 a.m. The gates will open at 8 a.m. with the opening ceremonies set for 8:45 a.m.
To register for the free Heart Walk - click here.
UNI junior men's basketball player Wyatt Lohaus, who is also a heart survivor, is serving as a spokesperson for this year's Cedar Valley Heart Walk.
Wyatt's first episode occurred in 8th grade during basketball practice. He could feel that his heart was out of rhythm. When he told us about it, we assumed it was excitement or nerves because he was practicing with the varsity team. The next episode occurred a couple weeks later while his father was coaching his club team. Wyatt had a tight, white undershirt on and you could see his heart racing in his chest!
Wyatt went to the doctor where the EKG indicated that he needed to see a specialist. Wyatt was diagnosed with SVT (Supraventricular Tachycardia) which is a condition where a piece of tissue in the atrium keeps firing signals in a continuous loop instead of pausing and passing into the ventricles. His heart rate was 270 beats per minute on a monitor while he was running a 4 X 800 in a track meet. An ablation was attempted to fix the problem, but they were unable to trigger the heart to race while he was under anesthesia. His doctor assured us that it was safe for him to continue to play basketball and showed Wyatt how to use vagal maneuvers to restore his normal rhythm. We soon learned that the most practical maneuver during a basketball game was for Wyatt to stick his face into a bucket of ice water and "shock" his heart out of the arrhythmia. He probably had to do this in 90% of his high school games... sometimes more than once.
It wasn't easy, but Wyatt dealt with it with incredible strength and courage. When his senior season was over, Wyatt decided to attempt another ablation... this time without anesthesia. Fortunately this one was a success and he now has a normal functioning heart. We are happy to say that Wyatt plays for the University of Northern Iowa Panthers and has not any episodes since his second ablation. We all feel very blessed and grateful!
The free walk will get underway at 9 a.m. The gates will open at 8 a.m. with the opening ceremonies set for 8:45 a.m.
To register for the free Heart Walk - click here.
UNI junior men's basketball player Wyatt Lohaus, who is also a heart survivor, is serving as a spokesperson for this year's Cedar Valley Heart Walk.
Wyatt's first episode occurred in 8th grade during basketball practice. He could feel that his heart was out of rhythm. When he told us about it, we assumed it was excitement or nerves because he was practicing with the varsity team. The next episode occurred a couple weeks later while his father was coaching his club team. Wyatt had a tight, white undershirt on and you could see his heart racing in his chest!
Wyatt went to the doctor where the EKG indicated that he needed to see a specialist. Wyatt was diagnosed with SVT (Supraventricular Tachycardia) which is a condition where a piece of tissue in the atrium keeps firing signals in a continuous loop instead of pausing and passing into the ventricles. His heart rate was 270 beats per minute on a monitor while he was running a 4 X 800 in a track meet. An ablation was attempted to fix the problem, but they were unable to trigger the heart to race while he was under anesthesia. His doctor assured us that it was safe for him to continue to play basketball and showed Wyatt how to use vagal maneuvers to restore his normal rhythm. We soon learned that the most practical maneuver during a basketball game was for Wyatt to stick his face into a bucket of ice water and "shock" his heart out of the arrhythmia. He probably had to do this in 90% of his high school games... sometimes more than once.
It wasn't easy, but Wyatt dealt with it with incredible strength and courage. When his senior season was over, Wyatt decided to attempt another ablation... this time without anesthesia. Fortunately this one was a success and he now has a normal functioning heart. We are happy to say that Wyatt plays for the University of Northern Iowa Panthers and has not any episodes since his second ablation. We all feel very blessed and grateful!
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