By Brian Baker (Whetstone Contributor)

On a late October afternoon last year, Wesley football offensive coordinator Chip Knapp got off the bus and walked into a hotel in a small town in central Pennsylvania with his 16-year-old son Ben.

The team was on its way to Ohio for a game and had stopped there for the night. Knapp climbed into bed next to Ben and went to sleep. At 4 a.m., Ben began shaking. Knapp tried but failed to wake him up from what he thought was a nightmare.

The nightmare, however, was just beginning. Ben was having a heart attack.

“I woke up Steve Azzanesi, one of our coaches,” said Knapp. “We got Ben on the floor and called 911. They told us to find his pulse, and we couldn’t find one.”

Knapp recalls running down to the front desk to find information for the 911 operator, and coming back up to the room to see Azzanesi performing CPR on Ben.

“I tried finding a team doctor and trainers, but they had not come on the trip,” Knapp said. “The hotel didn’t have a defibrillator either. I was frantic. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I don’t know if it was five minutes or 10 minutes, but an ambulance finally showed up.”

Ben was taken to a tiny hospital 15 minutes away. Knapp watched the nurses shock Ben’s heart and stabilize him. After running a CATSCAN, the doctor told Knapp that Ben looked OK, but his brain had swollen from lack of oxygen. A helicopter was called, but the bad weather made it impossible for one to fly in. An ambulance from Pittsburgh arrived after two hours.

Wesley Head Coach Mike Drass, who is also Ben’s godfather, remembers the night clearly.

“It was the most difficult night of my life,” he said. “One minute, everything is fine. The next minute, the world is upside down. A lot of guys on the team didn’t fully understand how serious the situation was until it sank in that Chip and Ben weren’t there.”

Knapp called his wife, Cindy, who brought their daughters Ellie and Emma to Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital. The family stayed at the hospital for 20 days.

Once Ben became stable, he moved to A.I. DuPont in Wilmington. He remained in intensive care for four months, and rehabbed for several more. He came home last summer.

For Knapp, football was put on hold. He missed games, even into the playoffs, before coming back. This year, he has coached the entire season and helped Wesley into the playoffs again.

“The football program was nice enough to let me take care of Ben while doing as much with football as I could,” Knapp said. “Now things are stabilizing and we get a ton of help, so I have been able to return to coaching, which I wasn’t sure I could do”

The support the Knapp family received overwhelmed them.

“There have been fundraisers, friends showing up, people making us meals and taking Ben to the hospital,” he said. “People we didn’t really even know before were now giving us help and getting nothing in return. It’s incredible.”

Drass agreed, saying, “The outpouring of support is constant. There are so many people who would do anything for that family.”

Ben still requires 24-hour care, but he is improving, his father said. His injuries were mostly physical.

Ben cannot see, and his motor skills are limited. But his mind is active, he can listen, and he can laugh. He goes to A.I. DuPont four times each week for 6-hour therapy sessions. He’s been attending Dover High School on Fridays to work his way back into academics.

Chip Knapp still finds time to continue coaching – but with a new outlook.

“Coaching has been a little tougher,” Knapp said. “Sometimes football has to take a backseat to family. The games aren’t as important to me as my family.”

However, that won’t stop him from giving his all when he is coaching.

“If you are going to do something, you do your best at it and you give it your all,” he said. “With football I am continuing to do that.”

Drass has been impressed by his offensive coordinator.

“Chip juggles coaching and being a father to Ben, Ellie, and Emma,” he said. “It’s nothing short of amazing.”