The Fall And Rise of Calvin Dedrick

On Oct. 13, 18-year-old Calvin Dedrick was at when he suddenly fell to the ground with a seizure. He was rushed to the hospital, and that night his heart stopped three times and he had a stroke.

“When he first went down, I honestly thought he was joking around,” fellow Jordan firefighter P.J. Masterson said, who brought him to the hospital. “It didn’t take long at all to realize he wasn’t joking.”

Doctors at Lawrence & Memorial Hospital put Dedrick into a medically induced coma. Since, he has had another stroke, an emergency craniotomy and bouts of paralysis. But now, Dedrick’s condition has been stabilized at Yale-New Haven Hospital, he is gaining strength and doctors said he should mostly recover.

“Doctors have come up to me, and said you just don’t survive something like this,” said Calvin’s mother, Marj Dedrick. “We think we know our kids, but you learn things about them in situations like this. And one thing, as a mother, I have learned from all of this is I learned (Calvin) is extremely focused, he is very determined, and he has made up his mind he will get through this.”

Meanwhile, Marj and Calvin Dedrick both said what made this recovery easier was the non-stop attention from all the firefighters at Jordan Fire Company, who have visited Calvin Dedrick in the hospital at least every other day since Oct. 13. Calvin Dedrick is receiving the same treatment any firefighter at Jordan would receive, Masterson said.

 “That’s how we roll,” he said. “When one person is affected here, it affects all of us.”

The Medical Side

Calvin Dedrick has Factor V (Roman numeral five) Leiden Syndrome, a blood disorder in which blood clots easier than normal. The problem for Dedrick was he didn’t know he had the disorder or felt any symptoms until Oct. 13.

On that Thursday, Dedrick had multiple clots in both his heart and his brain. That caused his heart to stop three times in the hospital that night, along with a stroke.

“Everyone has said that the one thing he has going for him is he is 18,” Marj Dedrick said. “They said if he was much older, like over 30, never in a million years would he have survived.”

After that night, he was put in a medically induced coma. But his brain continued to swell, and several days later doctors at L & M Hospital knew he needed an emergency craniotomy, a procedure in which part of the skull is removed to allow the brain to swell more.

The problem was only two people in Connecticut know how to do the procedure, and they were both at Yale-New Haven Hospital, Masterson said. Calvin Dedrick was transported via LIFESTAR helicopter to the hospital, where both doctors happened to be working that day, Masterson.

“They said afterward the difference between life and death at that point was a few minutes,” Masterson said. “If those two weren’t on, and they had to be called in, they probably wouldn’t have gotten there in time.”

Dedrick is still at Yale-New Haven Hospital, and has been recovering slowly. He is able to talk, even giving a quick interview to Patch, although is dealing with paralysis in parts of his body.

Both Masterson and Marj Dedrick said doctors believe Calvin Dedrick will be able to walk again, and be largely back to normal. He will have to be on blood thinners for the rest of his life and eat a special diet, but he should recover, they said.

“The doctors tell me you should be writing a book, because your son should not be here,” Marj Dedrick said. “All I can think is (Calvin) has a greater purpose, and we'll find out what that is.”

The Person

Calvin Dedrick is an Eagle Scout, a certified EMT and a student at Mitchell College. Whatever Calvin Dedrick sets his eyes on, he does, Marj Dedrick said.

“Calvin just has this determination about him,” she said. “He wanted to be an EMT, he became an EMT at age 17, the youngest age you can be certified. He wanted to go to Mitchell College, he went to Mitchell College. If Calvin puts his mind on something, he is going to do it.”

Masterson, meanwhile, called the 6’6” Dedrick a “gentle giant.”

“The kid is 6’6’, 6’7’, built like a brick house, but he’d be willing to give you the shirt off his back if you needed it,” Masterson said.

The Fundraisers

Jordan Fire Company, aside from bringing the Dedrick family meals and taking care of their house while they take care of their son, has organized several fundraisers for Calvin. The one they’ve spent the most time on is a benefit dinner at Port 'N' Starboard at Ocean Beach on Nov. 26, starting at 5 p.m.

Tickets are $25 for the spaghetti and meatball dinner. There will be door prizes and Waterford’s Veronica Ballestrini will sing at the event. To buy tickets, call Jordan Fire House at 860-443-6302.

All of what the firehouse has done has been just been just “beyond words,” Marj Dedrick said. Calvin Dedrick agreed, when asked if seeing all these firefighters every day made a big difference in his recovery.

“Yeah,” he said. “A lot.”

Most of the money at the benefit dinner will go to the Dedrick family. But $1 of every ticket will go to the National Blood Clot Alliance.