“Just Go With the Flow”

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McKenna Romick, Staff Writer

At Alliance High School, the kids all know Kobe Giger as a talkative, funny, and kind-hearted guy; except not everyone knows the real story about Kobe’s difficult times. For how kind Kobe’s heart is to people around him, his heart was not so kind back to him.

Kobe Giger is a senior at Alliance High School. He is the son to Chuck Giger and Donna Giger. He wrestled, played soccer and was going to run on the cross–country team. Kobe wanted to graduate from high school and go into the military. Those plans for after high school all changed the day he found out he had a heart disease.

Kobe started wrestling in the fifth grade, not knowing of any heart or health problems at all. In seventh grade Kobe had his first heart attack in the middle of the wrestling mat at a home duel. He had two more heart attacks his freshman year. One wrestling in Cozad on December 3, and his last one was when he was at the track in Alliance on March 12. After his third heart attack, a doctor in Denver diagnosed Kobe with CPVT (Catecholaminergic Polymorphic Ventricular Tachycardia). CPVT is an extremely rare heart condition that affects about 1 out of 10,000 people.

When Kobe was diagnosed, he was told he could not do sports or anything that would give him a rush of adrenalin. He gave up his dream of being in the military and then had no plans for what he wanted to do after high school. Even though he had to give up his dream, Kobe said that “he just went the flow.” He has now decided that he wants to go to Chadron State College and start studying to be a pharmacist. The wresting coach at the time of his injury was Coach Travis Peak. He told Kobe that he is still part of the wrestling family and he asked Kobe to be the manager of the team.

Kobe went back to his doctor for a check-up and found out that his heart was getting worse. His doctor scheduled a surgery date to go put in an ICD (Implantable Cardioveter Defibrillator). Kobe left for home with everything all fixed up and with no problems, or so they thought. His next check-up after his first surgery did not go as planned. One of the cords from his defibrillator punctured a hole into his heart. That caused blood to drain into the sack around his heart. He was sent to the hospital and went into surgery the next day. In surgery they put in a tube to drain the blood, fixed the hole and the cords. The whole time this was happening Kobe stayed strong. When reflecting back about everything that happened he said “ I was mad, but I just went with the flow.”

Now that it is Kobe’s last year to be the boys wrestling manager, he decided to invest in a singlet with his last name “Giger” on the back. The team all knows how hard it is on Kobe that he can’t wrestle. DJ Weare, also a senior, asked Kobe if he could wear his singlet for the home duel on January 8, 2015. DJ went out onto the mat, got a pin, and supported Kobe with “Giger” down his back. “Since Kobe can’t wrestle the closest he could get to be on the mat was to see his name” says DJ Weare. DJ won the match, but in a way, he also gave Kobe one last victory on the mat, something that Kobe thought may never happen again.