Riverside High School: Andrew Campea learned to live in the moment

When life changes in an instant, one can either look back at what has been lost, or decide to move forward, living in a world that has been transformed.

That was the choice facing Riverside Independent Scholar Program senior Andrew Campea a little over a year ago after he experienced cardiac arrest during a soccer practice, his first since recovering from an ankle injury earlier in the season.

“I was taking a warmup lap,” he said, “and after the lap my vision started fading and I passed out. They told me that my breathing and my heart had both stopped. There is a fire station across the street and they did CPR, shocked my heart, and brought me back. I was taken by Life Flight to the hospital and spent two weeks there, including a couple days in an induced coma.”

Campea had been a three-sport athlete at Riverside, with a dream of playing college football. Instead, he had to drop football and soccer, had a pacemaker and automated external defibrillator implanted, and played basketball wearing a heart monitor under his jersey. He played golf for the first time this spring.

“The doctors said that I couldn’t play any contact sports,” he said, “but it was left up to me if I wanted to play basketball. Basketball was good, but it was definitely different from before. Last year, I was a starter, but this year if my pulse got too high, I would get pulled. My coaches monitored me from the bench, and I could only play a few minutes at a time.”

In spite of everything, Campea said, it has been a good senior year for him. Just not the one he thought that he would have.

“After all that happened, I started looking at life from a different perspective,” he said. “Before, sports was my life. After, my eyes were opened because there’s more to life than sports. That took a while, and it’s still hard to think about, not getting the senior year I thought I’d have. I didn’t go to any football games because it was too hard to watch.”

Campea has been fine academically all along, having been enrolled for his last three semesters at Riverside in an online platform. He grew up in South Dakota and moved to Washington after his sophomore year. He plans to attend Washington State University in the fall to pursue a degree in athletic training.

“Originally, I was going to take a gap year after graduating,” he said, “but since last spring my goals changed. I don’t want anything to hold me back, just want to live in the moment. I’m glad that I played basketball because it helped me to realize that I don’t need to be scared. I need to know my limits, but in many ways my heart episode has opened up more opportunities in life for me. My friends and family have been super-supportive, and all those relationships are better because I realize that they will always be there for me.”

Emily Spencer is his school counselor and characterizes Campea as an inspirational leader to the school and community.

“His outgoing personality is infectious to all those around him,” she said, “and he not only works hard to achieve his goals, but exceeds expectations while doing so. His experience was traumatic and life-altering, but he has not let it stop him from living his life to the fullest.”