Completed Event: Men's Volleyball versus #6 BYU on March 21, 2025 , Loss , 1, to, 3
M Volleyball
vs #6 BYU
L 1-3
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Lopes save Lope's life on court
1/24/2019 11:30:00 AM | Men's Volleyball, Sports Medicine, Paul Coro
Volleyball frosh Gianni revived from cardiac arrest
LA JOLLA, Calif. — Camden Gianni could have been anywhere but Antelope Gymnasium on the afternoon of Dec. 28.
The Grand Canyon freshman could have chosen another university. A day earlier or an hour later, Gianni would have been elsewhere on GCU's campus.
Being in Antelope Gymnasium saved his life, reviving his heartbeat and a dream to play volleyball there next year.
Less than four weeks since suffering cardiac arrest during a Lopes volleyball practice and 10 days after open-heart surgery in Los Angeles, Gianni reunited Wednesday night with GCU head coach Matt Werle and athletic trainer Deborah Storm, who saved his life on the Lopes' home court with the help of special assistant to the head coach Dennis Flowers.
"God has a plan," Gianni said. "There's a reason why I went to this school. There's a reason why Deb got hired at GCU at the beginning of the school year. There's a reason why Dennis is on the coaching staff. There is a reason for literally everything. That one keeps me going."
None of that was clear Dec. 28, when the rush of his freshman season's first day of practices turned abruptly into a rush to revive his heart.
Gianni, a 19-year-old, 6-foot-5 outside hitter, practiced fabulously in a morning session but felt unusually winded after lifting weights before the day's second practice. About 90 minutes into the afternoon session, Gianni's chest suddenly felt heavy during scrimmage play and he put his hands to his knees before pulling himself from the action.
Gianni laid on the sideline, where Storm sat by him. He was struggling to breathe but he had not fallen or been hit. Trying to ease Storm's mind, Gianni said it had happened before and that he just needed a moment and a cup of water.
"I was thinking, 'This isn't normal,' " Storm said. "It seemed like he was in more pain than getting the wind knocked out of him."
Feeling claustrophobic, Gianni kicked off one shoe, sipped his water and went into a seizure. Storm called for Werle to call 911. Flowers grabbed a cushion for Gianni's head. Relatively for seizures, it was mild and he woke from it in about 30 seconds, hearing Storm desperately call his name and debating Storm's call for an ambulance.
"No, you're not fine," Storm told Gianni, who did not realize that he sustained a seizure because he believed the episode was like two high school instances that were blamed on dehydration.
He saw spilled water, from his body knocking the cup, and wondered if a ball had tipped it. About a minute later, Gianni's body convulsed more with a larger seizure. This time, Storm could not call him out of it.
She felt for a pulse on each side of his neck and both wrists, to no avail. Not knowing Flowers is a lifeguard who had saved a 16-year-old girl from cardiac arrest in July, Storm asked him to retrieve the automated external defibrillator from the gym lobby.
Returning quickly with the AED, Flowers wiped up the water. They lifted Gianni's shirt to apply the pads, and the machine immediately told Storm to shock Gianni's heart.
"That's not something you ever expect to hear," said Storm, a sixth-year athletic trainer who started at GCU in September after moving from suburban Chicago and had practiced AED use since being a teenage lifeguard.
They followed with four rounds of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, with Storm handling compressions and Flowers delivering mouth-to-mouth breathing, as he did for an unconscious girl at a camp in July.
"I felt his heart kick-start back on," Storm said. "It was such a bizarre, strong, powerful heartbeat. I went to go push and I felt his heart on my hands. I was like, 'Wait a minute, his heart is beating.' The second I felt that I was like, 'Thank God.' "
The survival rate for cardiac arrest drops by 10 percent for every minute without CPR, according to the American Heart Association.
"I was just very thankful that it went the way it did," said Flowers, a GCU junior. "I did a police department summer internship and saw plenty of scenes that went the wrong way. That's a good friend of mine, and that could've gone a totally different direction. It's one of those things you process: What if Deb and I weren't there? It's a scary reality."
It was even more so for Gianni, who did not realize what occurred until he heard Storm telling a nurse at the hospital. Upon waking in the gym, he repeatedly asked what happened but could never grasp it and repeatedly apologized to Storm and Werle.
His uncle, George, immediately jumped on a flight from Hawaii. His mother, Jamie, was immediately notified by Werle and was on her way from Carlsbad, Calif. But for the first night, Storm and GCU assistant coach Keith Smith stayed with Gianni as he sat stunned and fearful to fall asleep.
"I broke down crying," Gianni said. "Nobody wants to be told that they didn't have a pulse for three minutes. I was like, 'Why did this happen?' I'm a healthy kid. I'm 19, playing a Division I sport.
"I didn't know if I was going to live to see the next day. What if I slip and am not able to say goodbye to my family?"
They arrived the next day, but they could not get answers to why it happened. After three days in the hospital, the cardiologist informed him he could never play volleyball again, would need an internal defibrillator and could not work in various professions.
"It tore him up," Storm said.
Two hours later, the doctor returned with news that a final test revealed he had an anomalous coronary artery since birth, and it could be repaired with open-heart surgery to do a coronary artery bypass graft. His blood flow had been reduced by 80 percent.
Gianni was released Dec. 31 and visited his team's Jan. 1 practice before heading to Los Angeles for the Jan. 14 surgery.
"It was pretty incredible to hear," Werle said of Gianni's speech to his teammates. "He's handled this like such a man. He has no idea of the impact he's had on this team because of how strong and great he's handled the situation. He's been a rock when he shouldn't have to play that role."
Gianni slept for 21 of the first 24 hours after surgery. He attended the team's Jan. 3-5 tournament in Santa Barbara, Calif., and progressed from his emotions prompting him to leave during the first match to sitting on the bench for the third one. This weekend, the team is playing two matches in his hometown area, and he will join them for a team dinner and both matches. Storm and Werle traveled a day early to visit with him Wednesday night.
He has been staying in a hotel to avoid anything that would cause him to sneeze. Coughing is becoming more bearable. He laughed for the first time Wednesday.
Gianni will undergo regular checkups for the remainder of his life. In six months, he will undergo a stress test that will decide his volleyball fate. As of now, doctors told him that he has better than a 90 percent chance of playing volleyball again.
"If I could play volleyball again, that'd be awesome," said Gianni, who would have been a starter this weekend, according to Werle. "That'd be a dream come true."
Gianni has not stopped thanking Storm, whom he considers a second mom. He bought her a necklace with a heart-shaped pendant that says "With love" on one side and "+1 Camden" on the other. She jokes that she now has earned a say in all matters, such as his choice of a girlfriend.
"I feel like God put me there for a reason," Storm said. "I was supposed to be in that gym at 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 28."
Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
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The Grand Canyon freshman could have chosen another university. A day earlier or an hour later, Gianni would have been elsewhere on GCU's campus.
Being in Antelope Gymnasium saved his life, reviving his heartbeat and a dream to play volleyball there next year.
Less than four weeks since suffering cardiac arrest during a Lopes volleyball practice and 10 days after open-heart surgery in Los Angeles, Gianni reunited Wednesday night with GCU head coach Matt Werle and athletic trainer Deborah Storm, who saved his life on the Lopes' home court with the help of special assistant to the head coach Dennis Flowers.
"God has a plan," Gianni said. "There's a reason why I went to this school. There's a reason why Deb got hired at GCU at the beginning of the school year. There's a reason why Dennis is on the coaching staff. There is a reason for literally everything. That one keeps me going."None of that was clear Dec. 28, when the rush of his freshman season's first day of practices turned abruptly into a rush to revive his heart.
Gianni, a 19-year-old, 6-foot-5 outside hitter, practiced fabulously in a morning session but felt unusually winded after lifting weights before the day's second practice. About 90 minutes into the afternoon session, Gianni's chest suddenly felt heavy during scrimmage play and he put his hands to his knees before pulling himself from the action.
Gianni laid on the sideline, where Storm sat by him. He was struggling to breathe but he had not fallen or been hit. Trying to ease Storm's mind, Gianni said it had happened before and that he just needed a moment and a cup of water.
"I was thinking, 'This isn't normal,' " Storm said. "It seemed like he was in more pain than getting the wind knocked out of him."
Feeling claustrophobic, Gianni kicked off one shoe, sipped his water and went into a seizure. Storm called for Werle to call 911. Flowers grabbed a cushion for Gianni's head. Relatively for seizures, it was mild and he woke from it in about 30 seconds, hearing Storm desperately call his name and debating Storm's call for an ambulance.
"No, you're not fine," Storm told Gianni, who did not realize that he sustained a seizure because he believed the episode was like two high school instances that were blamed on dehydration.
He saw spilled water, from his body knocking the cup, and wondered if a ball had tipped it. About a minute later, Gianni's body convulsed more with a larger seizure. This time, Storm could not call him out of it.
She felt for a pulse on each side of his neck and both wrists, to no avail. Not knowing Flowers is a lifeguard who had saved a 16-year-old girl from cardiac arrest in July, Storm asked him to retrieve the automated external defibrillator from the gym lobby.
Returning quickly with the AED, Flowers wiped up the water. They lifted Gianni's shirt to apply the pads, and the machine immediately told Storm to shock Gianni's heart.
"That's not something you ever expect to hear," said Storm, a sixth-year athletic trainer who started at GCU in September after moving from suburban Chicago and had practiced AED use since being a teenage lifeguard.
They followed with four rounds of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, with Storm handling compressions and Flowers delivering mouth-to-mouth breathing, as he did for an unconscious girl at a camp in July.
"I felt his heart kick-start back on," Storm said. "It was such a bizarre, strong, powerful heartbeat. I went to go push and I felt his heart on my hands. I was like, 'Wait a minute, his heart is beating.' The second I felt that I was like, 'Thank God.' "
The survival rate for cardiac arrest drops by 10 percent for every minute without CPR, according to the American Heart Association.
"I was just very thankful that it went the way it did," said Flowers, a GCU junior. "I did a police department summer internship and saw plenty of scenes that went the wrong way. That's a good friend of mine, and that could've gone a totally different direction. It's one of those things you process: What if Deb and I weren't there? It's a scary reality."
It was even more so for Gianni, who did not realize what occurred until he heard Storm telling a nurse at the hospital. Upon waking in the gym, he repeatedly asked what happened but could never grasp it and repeatedly apologized to Storm and Werle.
His uncle, George, immediately jumped on a flight from Hawaii. His mother, Jamie, was immediately notified by Werle and was on her way from Carlsbad, Calif. But for the first night, Storm and GCU assistant coach Keith Smith stayed with Gianni as he sat stunned and fearful to fall asleep.
"I broke down crying," Gianni said. "Nobody wants to be told that they didn't have a pulse for three minutes. I was like, 'Why did this happen?' I'm a healthy kid. I'm 19, playing a Division I sport.
"I didn't know if I was going to live to see the next day. What if I slip and am not able to say goodbye to my family?"
They arrived the next day, but they could not get answers to why it happened. After three days in the hospital, the cardiologist informed him he could never play volleyball again, would need an internal defibrillator and could not work in various professions.
"It tore him up," Storm said.
Two hours later, the doctor returned with news that a final test revealed he had an anomalous coronary artery since birth, and it could be repaired with open-heart surgery to do a coronary artery bypass graft. His blood flow had been reduced by 80 percent.
Gianni was released Dec. 31 and visited his team's Jan. 1 practice before heading to Los Angeles for the Jan. 14 surgery.
"It was pretty incredible to hear," Werle said of Gianni's speech to his teammates. "He's handled this like such a man. He has no idea of the impact he's had on this team because of how strong and great he's handled the situation. He's been a rock when he shouldn't have to play that role."
Gianni slept for 21 of the first 24 hours after surgery. He attended the team's Jan. 3-5 tournament in Santa Barbara, Calif., and progressed from his emotions prompting him to leave during the first match to sitting on the bench for the third one. This weekend, the team is playing two matches in his hometown area, and he will join them for a team dinner and both matches. Storm and Werle traveled a day early to visit with him Wednesday night.He has been staying in a hotel to avoid anything that would cause him to sneeze. Coughing is becoming more bearable. He laughed for the first time Wednesday.
Gianni will undergo regular checkups for the remainder of his life. In six months, he will undergo a stress test that will decide his volleyball fate. As of now, doctors told him that he has better than a 90 percent chance of playing volleyball again.
"If I could play volleyball again, that'd be awesome," said Gianni, who would have been a starter this weekend, according to Werle. "That'd be a dream come true."
Gianni has not stopped thanking Storm, whom he considers a second mom. He bought her a necklace with a heart-shaped pendant that says "With love" on one side and "+1 Camden" on the other. She jokes that she now has earned a say in all matters, such as his choice of a girlfriend.
"I feel like God put me there for a reason," Storm said. "I was supposed to be in that gym at 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 28."
Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
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