Simsbury High School Athlete to Receive Courage Award

By Connecticut Sports Writers’ Alliance

Simsbury High School junior Danny Deitz and Lewis Mills High School senior Nicole O’Donnell have been selected as the Connecticut Sports Writers’ Alliance Bob Casey Courage Award winners for 2016.

Last June, Deitz, a football and lacrosse player at Simsbury, was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, the enlargement of the heart, but in September he underwent a heart transplant at Boston Children’s Hospital. Deitz spent more than 80 days in the hospital.

Deitz, a wide receiver on the football team and a long-stick defender in lacrosse, was diagnosed and treated for bronchitis last spring. But he continued to experience shortness of breath, so x-rays were taken and doctors found he had an enlarged heart.

After an echocardiogram was done in Glastonbury, Deitz was rushed by ambulance to the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. He was then transferred to Boston Children’s Hospital and remained there for 39 days. It was discovered that Deitz had a genetic mutation that causes protein in his heart to attack itself.

“And it would never stop attacking my heart,” Deitz told The Hartford Courant’s Jeff Jacobs in September. “A transplant was going to happen no matter.”

Deitz was sent home with a drug to increase his heart’s contractility, but it didn’t work. After a few weeks he had to return to Boston Children’s for another 28 days because of kidney and liver trouble. He also had fluid in his lungs.

During his second stay at Boston Children’s, Deitz underwent open heart surgery and a left ventricular assist device called LVAD was implanted. About three weeks later, he returned to that hospital and received a new heart on Sept. 10.

The Simsbury community rallied behind the Deitz family this spring. “Danny Strong” T-shirts were seen throughout the town to support Danny.

O’Donnell, a field hockey player for Lewis Mills, has recovered from major injuries sustained in a car crash on Aug. 19, 2015. O’Donnell was airlifted to Hartford Hospital after suffering a fractured pelvis, a lacerated liver, a collapsed lung and a concussion.

Deitz and O’Donnell will be honored at the 75th Gold Key Dinner on Sunday, April 24 at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington.

The award is given in the memory of the late sportswriter of the New Haven Register and honors those who have overcome adversity.

Former welterweight boxing champion Marlon Starling, New England/Hartford Whalers owner and founder Howard Baldwin, 1960 U.S. Hockey Olympic gold medalist Bob McVey, Trinity College squash coach Paul Assaiante and longtime Greenwich High boys swimming coach Terry Lowe will receive Gold Keys at the dinner.

Tickets to the 2016 Gold Key Dinner, which begins at 4 p.m., are $75 and can be purchased by contacting CSWA Vice President Tim Jensen of Patch Media Corp. at 860-394-5091 or tim.jensen@patch.com, or President Matthew Conyers of The Hartford Courant at 860-874-4166 or mconyers@courant.com. Tickets can also be obtained by mailing a check to the Connecticut Sports Writers’ Alliance, P.O. Box 70, Unionville, CT 06085.

Photo credit: donatelife-organdonation.blogspot.com