You would think he would run out of ink by now for how organized he is. Ball State University sophomore setter Daniel Penrod's agenda is filled with empty boxes waiting to be checked off his list.
Turn in an analysis paper toward a nuclear medicine degree, check. Afternoon volleyball practice, check. Work at Applebee's, check. Fight a silent battle against an accessory pathway to the ventricle that interferes with the heart's normal rhythm, check.
Penrod said he never anticipated Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome as a box he would have to mark off his daily to-do list.
"There were portions where he would have to sit out or days where his heart condition was acting up and he was not allowed to play," coach Joel Walton said. "He'd come over and say 'I feel lightheaded' or 'my heart's really racing' or call in and say 'I don't think I can make it to practice.' We didn't know what Daniel would show up the next day."
The average heart sends one electrical pulse when navigating through the pathway of vessels of the heart. That vital tiny electrical pulse sends a memo to the upper and lower chambers of the heart to consistently thud against the chest.
If there is an extra pathway to the heart, the electrical pulse can reach the organ too soon. This creates the heart to pump faster, causing palpitations, or abnormal heat beats. It is lumped into the group of pre-excitation syndromes because the electric waves trigger the heart to be responsive too early.
Most patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome typically take pills and are fine. Rarely is this condition considered life-threatening from cardiac arrest for infants, teens and the elderly. But Penrod's charts were loaded with red marks and blue dashes meaning that he could be the exception.
His first encounter with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, also referred to as Supraventricular tachycardia, remains a trifling memory of how far Penrod has come. Conjugating verbs in Spanish class, Penrod's heart began to beat uncontrollably.
"I went to my pediatrician the next day and he told me my increased heart rate was due to stress. I knew it wasn't," Penrod said.
Penrod's parents scheduled another appointment with a specialist but the earliest date available was three months away. While waiting for his exam with the doctor, Penrod was constantly moving from volleyball practice to matches in an effort to reach his highest admiration of playing volleyball at a collegiate level.
"I know being a part of our team is something he has always worked for," Walton said. "He probably saw a lot of role models and people that he idolized play at Ball State while he was growing up."
The next time Penrod experienced a heart problem, though, happened as he was trying to obtain that goal.
"I was at a tournament in Columbus, Ohio, and I was playing on the court," Penrod said. "I looked over at my coach and said, 'something is wrong, I gotta come out!' I went to the bench and passed out as soon as I got there."
The family physician immediately diagnosed Penrod with a heart murmur, and he was hooked up to a portable heart monitor to wear for seven days. The heart recording lasted for 60 seconds. After the reading Penrod called the hospital and compiled the data as an EKG.
"The last day I was supposed to wear it was a Sunday," Penrod said. "We were in Chicago for a volleyball tournament and I was stretching before our match, and all of a sudden, my heart started racing. I couldn't see, couldn't breathe, and my monitor went off and started recording. That next day, I saw my family physician, the day after that, I saw the electrophysiologist. I had my first cardiac ablation."
The first surgery took six hours on Jan. 23, 2007. The doctors went in through both sides of the groin, putting catheters into the femoral veins, up to his heart where doctors seared the valve closed.
"We were all worried about him," middle attacker J.D. Gasparovic said. "But at the same time we were worrying about him, he was worrying about us. He was there picking us up and encouraging us to keep striving for bigger and better performances."
After surgery in the recovery room, doctors put 20-pound sand bags on Penrod's inner thighs for two hours to reduce bleeding and close the incisions.
"In the pre-operation room, the nurse shaved me from head to toe, completely with a straight razor," Penrod said. "They took me into the operating room, put electrodes, wires, patches, IV, monitors of all sorts, all over my body to where no part of skin was visible."
In October 2007, Penrod had a second ablation. The valve reopened and needed to be burned in order to be closed completely. The surgery took nine hours.
Now with two surgeries and a heart that is pumping more regularly at a normal pace, Penrod is back on the court after redshirting for the 2008 season.
"I love the game, I always have," Penrod said. "It has always been my dream to play collegiate volleyball, and now that I'm here, nothing's going to stop me."
Click here to see an interactive graphic on Wolfe-Parkinson-White syndrome.
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