Murray State University Athletics
Volleyball coach's son, 3, may have saved Mommy's life
11/18/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
It is through tragedy and despair that miracles happen, and the Murray State women's volleyball team and the MSU athletics department are seeing first-hand that, in the face of tragedy, through miracles, there is hope.
Last Saturday, Racer volleyball head coach David Schwepker got a call to come to the emergency room, that his wife, Kendra, was being brought in after having seizures at their home that morning. Getting to the emergency room was fairly simple for Schwepker, as he was in a room in Murray-Calloway County Hospital following surgery on his Achilles tendon the day before.
That call came from a friend, Molly Rogers, who had gotten word from an unlikely source that something was wrong.
Rogers was called by the Schwepkers' 3-year-old son, Luke.
"Last Saturday morning, about 7:45, I had just gotten up, and the phone rang," she said. "I answered, and they hung up, so I thought it was a wrong number.
"It rang again, and I answered, and the person said, 'This is Luke,' and I said, 'Luke, what are you doing?' and he hung up again. It rang again, and I answered, and he said, 'Who is this?' and I said, 'This is Molly.' He said, 'Holly?' and I said, 'No, Molly.' He said, 'Mommy's sick.'"
Luke had picked up the phone and dialed "1," which was pre-programmed to call the Rogers' house. He later told Rogers that his mother had taught him how to do that if something bad ever happened.
"Then, Evan, their 5-year-old, got on the phone and said, 'Mommy keeps falling down, and she won't talk to us,'" Rogers said.
She then called to her husband, Kelly, an assistant professor of wellness and therapeutic sciences at Murray State, to go to the Schwepkers' house and check on things there.
"Kelly went over there and found the boys in the van with the keys," Molly said. "They wanted to take Mommy to the hospital."
Kelly took the boys in and asked them to show him where Mommy was, and found Kendra beside the bed having seizures. He cleared the area around her and called 911.
After Kendra was put into the ambulance, the Rogers tried to find her husband, David. They called another mutual friend, Bonita Pope, who told them where he was.
"He was in the hospital already," Molly said. "He had had surgery on his Achilles tendon that Friday, the day before this."
So, when Molly called David to tell him his wife was on the way to the hospital, he only had to go -- on crutches -- from his hospital room to the emergency room downstairs.
"Luke probably saved Kendra's life," David Schwepker said. "I called home around 8:15, and the line was busy, then I got the call from Molly Rogers that Kendra had passed out and that Luke had called her, trying to find me. If he hadn't called, then there's no telling how long Kendra would have been on the floor. There is someone at Vanderbilt who had a seizure and was there alone for hours before someone found him, and he is still in a coma."
Doctors at the Murray-Calloway County Hospital found a tumor on a frontal lobe of Kendra's brain 2 inches square and transferred her to Vanderbilt University Hospital in Nashville, Tenn. Surgeons removed almost all of the tumor Monday morning, but haven't gotten the biopsy results to date. Kendra is awake and alert and doing well, according to family and friends. She was moved today to Vanderbilt Stallworth Rehabilitation Hospital.
The Murray State volleyball team has set up an account at The Murray Bank under the name of David Schwepker to help alleviate hospital costs and other costs the family will have. Besides Luke and Evan, the Schwepkers have another son, Isaac, who is 6 months old.
"This is an account with no stipulations," said Casandra Ersel, a senior setter and team captain. "This will help them with medical costs, groceries, diapers, whatever.
"We will also have fund-raisers at the home basketball games. We will have a booth set up there."
"Everyone has been so wonderful to us," David Schwepker said. "We really appreciate how thoughtful and generous everyone has been. It really means a lot. We are very, very grateful."
"We are trying to do what we can," Ersel said. "There is even a faculty member who is raking their leaves for them while they are away. We are all doing anything we can to help them right now. People are chipping in, and it is really amazing."
The whole story is amazing, but that is what happens when miracles appear.
