Coach's quick thinking prevents tragic end for student

Meenen

Tragedy nearly struck the Marshall High School athletic complex a month ago, but quick action by a MHS coach helped get a local student through a freak accident that occurred during the Marshall Track and Field Relays on April 26.

According to Kyle Guthrey, a history teacher at MHS who also doubles as the shot put and discus coach for the Owls track team, the accident occurred so quickly he didn't have time to think, all he could do is react.

"We had just finished with the girls throwing their discuses and we had a knot in one of the tape measures. I told my helpers to pull the tape out and get the knot out," Guthrey explained. "Daniel [Meenen, a senior at MHS] walked out there to help them and a boy from one of the other schools started warming up. He fired the discus out and Daniel had his back turned. The discus hit him in the back of the neck and head area."

Guthrey who was busy writing down information about the athletes he coaches said the next thing he knew utter chaos ensued as he raced to reach his fallen athlete.

"I yelled for someone to call an ambulance and the coach from Carrollton, Doug Miller, came up to Daniel with me. Daniel was having convulsions and Miller said, 'We've got to hold his head, because he might have some type of head injury.' We turned him over and Daniel just turned blue and stopped breathing," Guthrey said. "I didn't think, I just knew I had to get air into him. I pinched his nose and started blowing. It took eight or nine good blows and he started breathing again."

Once Meenen began breathing on his own again, his convulsions returned. Fortunately, emergency medical technicians arrived on the scene seconds later.

"The color came back to his face and an ambulance showed up but he was really thrashing," Guthrey said. "They took him to Fitzgibbon [Hospital] and when they looked at him there, they immediately flew him to a hospital in Columbia."

Meenen, who said he didn't regain consciousness until the next day, pulled through the life-threatening incident without any major remnants of the event, although medical personnel at the hospital in Columbia told him that he "flat-lined" twice en route to the facility.

"I didn't regain awareness until the next afternoon. I was still under the effects of all the drugs they gave me to keep me from moving. They pulled all the tubes out, which really hurt and they still had me restrained … ," Meenen said. "But all of my tests came back negative and there wasn't a bruise or a scratch where the discus hit. The only major scar I have is on my forearm, where I burnt my arm on the gurney straps. I also broke the leg restraints on the backboard."

A humble Meenen also took the time to thank the man who saved his life.

"Without him [Guthrey] I probably wouldn't be here today," he said. "I really appreciate what he did for me and I will never forget him."

"I knew that if we didn't do something, he was going to die or something," Guthrey said. "I had this training over 20 years ago and it came in handy. It's something I don't even remember thinking about. You just do it. Thank God he started breathing again."

Contact Eric Coley at

marshallfaith@socket.net