COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—Candy Bergst is a tough-minded, strong-willed high school senior.
She has good reason to be after a five-day stay in intensive care in August 2006 that had doctors questioning whether she would live. When they suggested she wouldn’t play soccer again, it only encouraged the Palmer senior to prove doubters wrong.
“I was just so happy to be alive. I didn’t know if I’d ever play soccer again, but it was always in the back of my mind,” she said. “The doctors told me that I would never play soccer again, but I am motivated by people telling me I can’t do something.”
That motivation paid off this spring season by landing the starting goalie job at Palmer, where she is one of the best netminders in Colorado Springs 5A Metro League. It’s a considerable accomplishment when you think about how bad things looked about two years ago.
In August 2006, Candy was a seemingly healthy high school junior. But during a morning club soccer game, she began to spit up blood. Her parents, Mike and Cheri, took her to Penrose Hospital to see what was wrong, and her condition worsened.
“That night I threw up two liters of blood, and it freaked us all out,” Candy said. “They ran some tests on me at Penrose, but the doctors said they were puzzled as to what was causing my bleeding.”
They sent her to Memorial Hospital for more tests. But Candy’s parents only became more worried as her condition worsened the next day.
“They went down her throat with a camera and thought that it was just her tonsils,” Mike said. “They conducted exploratory surgery very late the second night and cauterized where they believed she was bleeding in her throat.”
Candy’s condition did not improve, and she was back in intensive care as she continued to throw up blood.
“I thought I was going to die,” Candy said.
She was unconscious much of the next day.
“They (doctors) told me that they didn’t think they would be able to save her,” said Mike.
The doctors started to give her fluids intravenously before giving her a blood transfusion. It helped.
Candy was still fighting, and her body accepted the fluids. After she vomited the remaining blood in her stomach, she began to improve.
Dr. Bruce Cook, the pediatric hematologist who treated Candy, said a viral infection was the cause for the scare.
“Candy had a recent viral infection at the time, and her body created an antibody to fight the infection,” Cook said. “This antibody affected the way the blood clots, and that’s what caused her to bleed. It was a potentially life-threatening condition.”
Although she was weak and disoriented, Candy was released from the hospital on the sixth day of the ordeal and returned home, not knowing what was going to happen next.
“She had lost so much blood that she was too weak to do anything,” said Cheri.
Candy tried to return to her life before the incident. This included being an honor student with a 4.8 GPA and playing soccer and volleyball.
“Everybody at Palmer was absolutely wonderful to her when she returned,” said Mike, who added that volleyball coach Nancy Pellow had left a roster spot open for her.
In about two months, Candy went from the ICU to serving a point in the final match of the season. She received a standing ovation from the Palmer fans.
With one sports hurdle cleared, Candy set her sights on what she had dreamed about for years: being the starting varsity goalie at Palmer.
“Getting back onto the soccer field for my junior season wasn’t a want-to, it was a have-to,” she said. “Palmer is where I belong, and I needed to be on the field with my teammates.”
Coach Chris Romano is happy to have her on his team.
“She plays with no fear, but after going through what she’s been through, what are a few bumps and bruises?” Romano asked.
Candy realized another dream when she received a soccer/academic scholarship to attend Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa. Her brother Christopher is a senior soccer player at Northwestern.
She plans to major in chemistry and biology and pursue one of her newest goals: becoming a doctor specializing in hematology. “I believe everything happens for a reason,” she said.
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