John's Journal: When A U.S. Senator Came To The Aid Of A Cherry High School Athlete

Watching the boys basketball team from Cherry High School get to the state tournament this year for the first time in 25 years brought back memories of an athlete from Cherry I wrote about in 2007. Laura Griffiths was a senior at Cherry that year and she had a serious health problem. Thanks to a former U.S. senator and future governor of Minnesota, everything was taken care of.

Here is that story ... 

Cherie Griffiths can't decide if Mark Dayton is an angel or a saint or both. All she knows is that whenever she tries to talk about what the former U.S. senator has done for her child, the tears flow.

Laura Griffiths is the senior basketball player from Cherry High School who was diagnosed in February with a heart condition that required surgery. Her family has no health insurance.

That's when the angel arrived. Dayton read about Laura in the March 14 Star Tribune and decided to help out.

"Your story deserves the credit," Dayton told me. "I read it that day and something just grabbed me. I said, 'I can do something about this and make it happen.'"

The result? After more than seven hours of surgery Thursday at University of Minnesota Children's Hospital-Fairview, Laura is going to be fine.

Dayton is a Democrat who was elected to the Senate in 2000 and did not run for re-election in 2006. The father of two sons said Laura’s plight hit home.

"All I know is if one of my children had a heartbeat of 199, I would be as frantic as I imagine they were," he said.

The surgery was expected to cost between $50,000 and $100,000. Fundraising efforts have brought in around $6,000.

Laura’s condition is called Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome. It's an electrical abnormality that can cause the heart to race. The morning after Cherry's final regular-season home game, she collapsed and was rushed to Fairview Hospital in Hibbing, where her heart was pounding at 199 beats per minute.

She has been traveling with a portable defibrillator; without the surgery, it might have been her companion for the rest of her life. And she would never have been allowed to be active; that's a lot to ask of a teenager who plays basketball, runs track, is a football cheerleader and participates in music and drama.

Her father, Ben, is a mason and Cherie works as a health aide with Alzheimer's patients. Laura’s big brother, Travis, is a Marine who has spent time in Iraq. He is in San Diego right now, but he made several phone calls to his parents Thursday as they waited during Laura’s surgery. They were joined at the hospital by Laura’s grandma, Gladys Griffiths.

"It's been a tough couple of months," Gladys said. "A lot of tears have been shed."

After Dayton spoke with the Griffiths, he called University of Minnesota president Bob Bruininks and told them about the family's situation. Then Dayton received a call from Frank Cerra, senior vice president for health sciences at the university.

"I said I want to make sure she gets the best possible care from the best possible doctors and staff," Dayton said. "They assured me she would have a great team."

The surgery was led by cardiologist Dr. Fei Lu. He walked into the waiting room late Thursday afternoon and said simply, "We're done."

He told the Griffiths about the surgery, which involved running two catheters into Laura’s heart to make the needed repairs. "I think there's a 99 percent chance that the problem is gone," he said. "And tomorrow, if everything is OK, she can go home."

About that time three of Laura’s friends arrived with flowers and a get-well card. They saw tears flowing and wondered if something terrible had happened, but hugs and smiles from Cherie carried the news.

Eddie Skaudis is from Cherry and Kelsey Radle and Dylan Mankus (Laura’s boyfriend) are from Orr. The two couples have big plans, including the spring proms at both high schools.

Laura’s parents and friends began making phone calls with the good news. Area high school all-star games for boys and girls were held Thursday evening in Virginia, where it was announced that Laura had undergone successful surgery. The crowd of several hundred people responded with thunderous applause.

"It's the best news we've had all season long, and for several seasons," said Cherry girls' coach Lee Bloomquist, who helped lead fundraising efforts all over northern Minnesota.

After Laura was taken into a recovery room, everybody went to see her.

Laura, still very groggy, slowly turned her head and whispered into her dad's ear as Mankus held her left hand. This was a scary sight for her young friends. After they left the room, Skaudis said, "I've never had surgery and I never want to."

With all the worrying finally at an end, Cherie said quietly, "A lot of people have been waiting, and praying for her."

And then there were more phone calls, more hugs and more smiles. All, as Laura’s mom said, "Thanks to Mark."

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at [email protected]