Friday, Sep. 26, 2008

'Thankful for One More Day’

The Lonnquist Notes

For 22 tear-filled minutes, Ellen Telaneus thought about life without her husband, Steve.

That was six years ago.

Oct. 26 marks the sixth anniversary of when Telaneus was thought to have passed away from the massive heart attack he suffered at a district cross country meet at Denton’s North Lakes Park. He didn’t have a pulse.

By miracle or grace, he survived

"I think about it all of the time," said Telaneus, now 49. "I wake up most mornings thankful for one more day."

Telaneus has been at Marcus since 1986 and built one of the most successful programs in Texas. Between his girls and boys programs, they have won 31 district titles, 11 regional titles and three state titles. Two other runners have won individual state titles.

On that fall morning, no one, including Telaneus, knew about the 90 percent blockage in one artery, known as the "widowmaker." So when he collapsed 50 yards from the finish line, his son Ben and others thought it was a joke.

But it was no joke when Telaneus did not respond to calls and then didn’t respond to CPR. Terror spread through the park. The ride to the hospital seemed almost a useless exercise, because if he wasn’t revived within the first few minutes, he wasn’t coming back. Ellen prayed to God and asked for help.

Then the paramedic shouted from the back. "I think I’ve got a pulse."

"You have what?" Ellen said.

Telaneus went to a nearby Denton hospital and was comatose for about a day before he came around.

"There are such a variety of emotions that you go through," Ellen said. "From 'I’ve lost my husband’ to 'Oh my gosh, he’s back.’ You process so much. And when you’re dealing with a flood of people at the hospital, you feel like you’re at a morbid wedding reception."

Coming back has been a long process. Telaneus has no memory of the event, or even of a good part of 2002. He spent eight weeks in rehab retraining himself to do simple things.

Gradually, he mastered them all. But as a biology teacher, he still stumbles over biology terms occasionally.

The process of methodically running the cross country programs has been long and tough. It came down to mastering the day-to-day operations so he could just go out on the course and coach his runners.

"It’s still a battle for me, and I still have to deal with some of the enraged emotions," Telaneus said. "It’s not the overriding theme that it used to be. But the thing I had to do was just relearn how to coach compassionately."

From 2003-2007, Telaneus said he never felt the connection with his runners like he had with them prior to his heart attack.

Yet Marcus never lost its edge. In 2006, the boys team advanced to the Class 5A state meet. In 2007, the girls team advanced to the 5A state meet. The 2008 teams are contenders again.

However, something is different this fall.

Both Telaneus and his wife have noticed how much more relaxed he is around his runners. Finally, he has peace with himself and his coaching. He admits he has a better connection.

"What we’ve tried to do is cling to the everyday blessings," Ellen said. "The gripey things don’t matter. There are no guarantees, so we cherish that we have what we have."