Marian star athlete tells his story after recovery from near fatal accident

He never saw it coming.

It wasn’t a football block from his blindside or an 80-mile-an-hour fastball thrown at his head. He would have taken on those odds any day over what happened on Dec. 21, 2016.

On that night, Ryan Cappel was the passenger in a car that was t-boned by a Ford Expedition traveling 50-miles-an-hour in Orwigsburg, just a few minutes from where he lives. The impact crushed the car his girlfriend was driving so badly that emergency responders needed to cut the roof off to remove them from the vehicle.

“It happened so fast, the first thing I remember was grabbing hold of my girlfriend’s hand,” said Cappel.

From blackout

to blood loss

Cappel passed out just before he was airlifted to Janet Weiss Children’s Hospital in Danville. He had sustained heavy blood loss and what was later determined by doctors to be a Grade 5 laceration of his spleen.

“They said my spleen was like mashed potatoes,” Cappel said.

Cappel also sustained several cuts and a severe concussion as did his girlfriend, who had hit her head against the steering wheel. She also had broken ribs and a partially collapsed lung. Once doctors were able to stop Ryan’s blood loss, they worked urgently to save his spleen, an organ that filters the blood in the body and helps fight certain kinds of serious bacterial infections.

Eight is enough

During his 17-day stay at the hospital, doctors performed eight surgeries on Ryan’s left leg to stop a buildup of potassium that could have potentially gotten to his heart through the bloodstream and possibly caused his death. He also had acquired what is called Compartment Syndrome. In his case, a severe swelling in his leg that could have stopped blood flow and reduced his body’s oxygen to dangerous levels.

“To reduce the swelling, they had to actually cut open my leg from my knee to my ankle, “ he said. “They also removed the soleus muscle from the back of my leg. They told me I might have needed skin grafting, too, but they were able to stitch my leg back together.”

Taking baby steps

to recovery

“I felt so much frustration at first,” Cappel said. “I didn’t eat from all the medication. I couldn’t lift my leg off the bed. I couldn’t walk. I had to hold onto a walker. I was mad at everyone for a while, but my parents and grandparents kicked me in the butt and got me up to try.”

Cappel took small steps at first to make his way to the end of the hospital hallway. Then he managed two hallways before he was finally sent home. Although he eventually was able to return to school at Marian, his recovery was just beginning. His grandfather picked him up in the afternoon and drove Cappel to a rehabilitation center so he could strengthen his leg.

Lost and found

Cappel’s multiple serious injuries led to another complication — classroom time. Because his rehab schedule took place during the afternoon, he was forced to miss a significant amount of school.

Because of that, Ryan and his family decided that he would repeat the academic year.

“My goal is to attend one of the military academies, preferably West Point,” said Cappel. “You start the application process in January of your junior year, the time when I had missed so much school. I want to make sure I could qualify for admission into an academy, so I’ll do the year over again.”

Miraculously, however, Cappel — a two sport star — never missed a sport season.

After rigorous rehabbing and with doctor approval, Cappel found his way back to the baseball field just months after his near-fatal accident.

Because of that, even though Ryan is classified as a senior for athletic eligibility, he is still classified a junior academically.

A field of dreams

Last May, Cappel, who also had Cubital Tunnel Syndrome surgery to correct numbness in his throwing arm when he was 14, realized a moment that once was thought to be nothing more than an impossible dream. He pitched his Marian Colts to a District 11 baseball championship victory over Minersville.

“I went from the lowest of lows to the highest of highs,” said his father Dale Cappel. “Ryan worked so hard to get to that day, I was so proud of him.”

As amazing as Cappel’s recovery was to play baseball, he wasn’t satisfied.

This fall, he returned to the Colts’ football team where he started as a middle linebacker.

“It was obviously nerve wracking for me when Ryan played in his first football game,” said Dale. “The whole game I had butterflies in my stomach and sweat on my palms. I wasn’t worried about his spleen because he had a lot of scar tissue.

“But I was worried about his leg. We just wrapped it the best we could so his wound wouldn’t open again.”

When Ryan would come home from practices and games, he suffered from fatigue in his leg, so Dale would massage the area to improve the circulation.

After helping the Colts qualify for the district playoffs in football, Ryan is back for his final season of eligibility in baseball, playing both pitcher and first base.

Ryan, who would love to play baseball for a service academy someday, has helped Marian get off to a solid 6-1 start on the diamond. On the mound, he has allowed only one earned run through nine innings in two pitching stints against Jim Thorpe and Panther Valley. He’s also hitting at a .325 clip with four RBIs.

Miracle Kid

To top off his remarkable comeback, the Children’s Miracle Network at Geisinger recently selected Ryan as their Miracle Kid. The honor goes to someone who has come back from a traumatic injury. That led to Cappel throwing out the first ball at a Scranton/Wilkes Barre RailRiders’ minor league baseball game last week.

With all that has occurred during the past two years, Ryan is keeping things simple nowadays.

“After I nearly died, I just want to live my life normally now,” he said.

His application to attend West Point will be anything but normal. His resume will include his top 20 percent rank in his academic class, his athletic achievements, and of course, his extraordinary fortitude to get himself back to playing the games that he loves.

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BLAZING A TRAIL …. Marian’s Tina Capparell not only won two events Friday night at Tamaqua’s Blue Raider Invitational, she also established two meet records in the process. Capparell’s 2:20.57 in the 800 bested the previous mark of 2:30.97 set by Tamaqua’s Monika Shimko last year in the event. Capparell’s blistering time of 5:06.66 in the 1600 eclipsed the mark of 5:12.7 set in 2011 by Pottsville’s Paige Stoner.

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GOING THE DISTANCE … In Lehighton’s meet against Blue Mountain last week, Isabelle Meckes won the discus with a school-record throw of 119-8, breaking the previous mark of 119-5, which was held by Gwen Remaley.

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NO-NO … Northern Lehigh’s Alicia Horn hurled a no-hitter in the Bulldogs’ 11-0 win over Catasauqua on April 6. Horn also scored three runs and had two RBIs. Northern Lehigh (7-1, 5-0) is currently on top of the Colonial League West Division standings.

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BEST OF BOTH WORLDS … The Northwestern baseball team has gotten off to a roaring start this season, sporting a record of 8-1. The Tigers have come through on the mound and at the plate. Vince Castrine (0.82 ERA, 17 innings pitched) and Drew White (1.56 ERA, 18 IP) are both 3-0 and have been nearly unhittable. At the plate, Tyler Wiik has made life miserable for opposing pitchers, hitting .536 with 12 RBIs, three doubles and three home runs in 28 at-bats (35 plate appearances). But Wiik isn’t the only Tiger seeing the ball well, Trevor Schreiner (.471 average, 13 runs scored, 14 RBIs, four doubles, two triples), Rafe Perich (.444, nine runs scored, 11 RBIs, four doubles) and Derek Holmes (.433, nine runs scored, 12 RBIs, four doubles) have been just as impressive through the team’s first nine games. Northwestern has won five straight, and outscored opponents 83-21 this season. The Tigers — on top of the Colonial League West Division — have posted shutouts in three games this season, allowing one run in four contests.

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TIGHT AT THE TOP … The Palmerton, Bangor and Southern Lehigh boys track and field teams are all 4-0 and sit atop the Colonial League standings. The Northwestern boys are 3-1. Saucon Valley and Bangor travel to Palmerton today. On the girls side, Southern Lehigh and Wilson are both 4-0, while Northwestern and Palmerton sit at 3-1.

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LEADERS OF THE PACK … The Jim Thorpe boys and girls track and field teams have both enjoyed 3-0 starts to the season. The boys are alone in first place in the Division 1 standings, while the girls are fighting with Blue Mountain (4-0) for the top spot. The Marian boys are deadlocked with Mahanoy Area (2-0) in Division 2. While these teams won’t face each other this week, there is a good local matchup on the card. Lehighton travels to Jim Thorpe on Wednesday for what should be an intriguing Division 1 meeting for both the boys and girls teams.

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FIRING ON ALL CYLINDERS … Though the Tamaqua softball team suffered its first loss of the season over the weekend against Whitehall, the Blue Raiders have shown the form that has made them a perennial power in the Schuylkill League. Junior Miranda Chinchar is hitting .500 (24 at-bats) with seven runs scored, seven RBIs and one triple this season. Senior Kaitlyn Stauffenberg (.458, eight RBIs, five runs scored, two doubles) and sophomore Maxine Beers (.400, seven runs scored, five RBIs) have also played key roles for a team that has outscored opponents 61-17 this season. Senior Courtney Hoffman has been electric on the bases, and is 7-for-7 in stolen bases attempts. Junior Jada Schellhammer has been lights out in the circle. Through 41 innings, she had a 6-1 mark and a 0.85 ERA, allowing only five walks while recording 40 strikeouts. The Blue Raiders are atop the Schuylkill League Division 1 standings at 4-0.

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SCHUYLKILL SUPREMACY … Both the Marian baseball (4-0) and softball (3-0) teams are atop their respective Schuylkill League Division 3 standings.

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LACROSSE MILESTONES ... A pair of Pleasant Valley girls lacrosse players reached milestones in the Bears’ 20-8 victory over Crestwood on Friday.

Juliana Lopez scored seven goals in the game, pushing her over the 100-goal mark for her career.

Alyssa Grieco had five goals and two assists in the contest to push her over the 100-career point mark.

Pleasant Valley is in just its third season of varsity lacrosse.