Montana High School Athlete Back on Track, Thanks to Life-Saving Care at Intermountain Health St. James Hospital
It was a night Holly Carpino will never forget.
She was watching her son, Preston Jensen, play football at Butte High in Montana when he experienced two large hits during his plays.
“He kind of laid there for a few minutes, and when he got up he was complaining that his stomach was hurting,” said his mother, Holly Carpino. “He thought it would just go away.”
But it didn’t.
After half time, and into the third quarter, Jensen went white.
Christine Mayer, an Intermountain Health certified athletic trainer who supports students and athletic teams at Butte High, rushed to his side to inspect his wellbeing.
“He expressed that he had pain in his left shoulder. That’s when I knew this could be more serious than just having the wind knocked out of him,” said Mayer.
Mayer expressed that Jensen would need to change and get to the St. James Hospital. When they arrived, Jensen’s blood pressure showed drastically abnormal levels, and an ultrasound revealed internal bleeding.
“I looked up and saw a little blood bag going into my arm, and I thought ‘there’s no way they’re putting blood in me right now. What could that mean?’” said Jensen.
Colton Ryan, MD, a general surgeon at Intermountain Health St. James Hospital in Butte, was able to identify that Jensen’s spleen had ruptured – and they needed to act quickly.
“Dr. Ryan came out and said, ‘We need to do surgery right now’,” said Carpino.
The severity of this injury caused the internal bleeding which led to Jensen losing roughly four liters of blood in the process prior to his surgery.
“In the operating room, there was a large amount of blood within [Jensen's] belly,” said Dr. Ryan. “I found his spleen had a large laceration that was down to where the blood vessels enter the spleen. Due to the extreme damage he had taken, we ended up needing to remove his spleen.”
After four bags of blood platelets and hours of surgery, Dr. Ryan was able to stabilize Jensen.
“I woke up and asked them, ‘I’m still fine right?’ but then they unwrapped me and I saw a giant scar down my front side,” recalled Jensen. “At that point, I was just glad to be alive. Everyone would visit my bed and frown, but I'd ask them ‘why? - be happy I’m still here!’”
Now, both Jensen and his mom express gratitude for the caregivers who saved his life that night.
“It was a pretty scary night,” said Holly Carpino. “I was a nervous wreck, I didn’t understand what was going on, but Dr. Ryan was very calm, cool, and collected. I’m incredibly grateful for that.”
While his high school football career is over, Jensen has found passion for a new sport in track.
“Obviously, now that I can’t play football, [track] has been my thing. Focusing on this – another chance, another opportunity,” said Jensen.
Both Jensen and Mayer meet daily during school hours for physical therapy and to monitor Jensen as he continues to prep for the upcoming track season.
“To see where he started and to see where he is now, it really is incredible,” said Mayer. “It’s been so rewarding to see him get stronger and I look forward to watching him close out his senior year in a way that he is proud of.”