SPRINGDALE — Few sights are more Americana than an eight-year-old boy who scrambles back to first base after getting a hit and receives a high-five from his dad, who is coaching nearby.
But seconds later the boy passes out, giving the first glimpse there might be something wrong with young Zach Vogel.
“We took him to the emergency room and had him checked out,” said Steve Vogel, Zach’s father. “They said he was probably dehydrated and that he would be fine.”
Profile
Zach Vogel
SCHOOL: Springdale Har-Ber
POSITION: Second base
HEIGHT: 5-10
WEIGHT: 155
NOTEWORTHY: Batting .234 as a senior for Springdale Har-Ber… Saw first varsity action as a sophomore and mostly started as a junior… Signed last week to play at Arizona Christian University in Phoenix, Ariz.
Zach Vogel returned to the baseball field and continued to play until an incident at age 11 showed he was not fine.
“He slid into third, popped back up, and starting getting disoriented again like he was going to pass out,” Steve Vogel said. “He wandered off the base, they tagged him out, so we knew there was something wrong for this to happen again.”
Steve and his wife, Teri, began taking their son to different specialists until a cardiologist revealed that Zach had Long QT Syndrome, which is a heart rhythm disorder. Symptoms include rapid heartbeats that may trigger a sudden fainting spell, seizure, or even death.
“Basically, his body doesn’t regulate the adrenaline going to his heart,” Steve Vogel said. “It sends too much adrenaline to his heart.”
Following the diagnosis, the Vogels learned from doctors that Zach would be put on medication for the rest of his life. But the most sobering news came when Zach was told he would never be able to play sports again.
“After hearing that, it was really disheartening and I didn’t know what to do with myself,” Zach Vogel said. “The hardest part was P.E. in school when all my friends were running around and I had to sit there and watch them. I fell into a little bit of a depression and I was mad about everything. I just sat on the couch and didn’t want to have anything to do with anyone.”
Although Zach may have given up, his parents did not. After moving from California to Arkansas in 2007, the Vogels continued to search for answers for Zach’s condition and found it at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., where Dr. Michael Acherman is a leader in the diagnosis and treatment of Long QT Syndrome.
“Zach had an experimental surgery at age 14, only the eight person in the country to have that type of surgery,” Steve Vogel said. “We then went another year and had checkups to make sure everything Ok before the doctor released him to play baseball again.”
After four years being away from the game he loved, Zach Vogel, who was by then enrolled as a freshman at Har-Ber High School, grabbed a glove and went for a tryout with the Wildcats’ baseball team.
“When he walked through the door he was small and real raw,” Har-Ber coach Randy Salsbury said. “But you couldn’t hit him enough ground balls and he was a real smart kid who absorbed everything.”
Fast forward three years and Zach Vogel is the starting second baseman for the Wildcats, who began the week 15-8 on the season. After being told he couldn’t even swing around a flagpole as an 11-year-old, Vogel signed last week to continue his baseball career next season at Arizona Christian University in Phoenix, Ariz.
“To be at this point in his life, with a college scholarship, is a true miracle,” Teri Vogel said of her son, who carries a defibrillator in his backpack as a precaution. “His life is totally based on faith and only God knows his number of days. It’s truly a blessing to see him back out there doing the things that he loves.”