FRUIT HEIGHTS—Brendon Redford was a former star basketball player at Davis High and had just started playing for Lethbridge College in Canada in January, when the 23-year-old suffered a massive stroke. 

“It happened between 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Jan. 25,” said Redford’s sister Heather Petersen. “He was supposed to pick up a friend but never showed. A teammate felt something was wrong when he didn’t show up for film that night.”

The player asked the coach if he could check on him, she said. “His teammate and the assistant coach went to his apartment and it was locked. The landlord let them in and they found Brendon unresponsive.”

They drove him to the emergency room in Lethbridge, said Petersen. “But there was a six hour wait. His teammate went to the front desk and explained the situation. They did a scan and lab work. They wanted to check for alcohol or drugs just to be sure.”

Brendon was life flighted to Calgary, she said. “They did surgery to remove the clot. But that wasn’t until midnight. That was a large window from the stroke.”

Doctors were doing CAT scans twice a day, Petersen said. “They were really worried for the first 96 hours. They were drawing blood every six hours. They were concerned they’d have to remove part of his skull but decided not to.” 

It was an ischemic stroke, said Brendon’s father Darrell. “A clot goes up the arteries to the brain and stops the blood flow. They’d never seen a stroke in someone that young. They can’t find any reason. He was in perfect health.”

He lost the use of the right side of his body, said Petersen. “He struggled to talk and didn’t comprehend well.”

Darrell and his wife Cathy took the trip from their home in Fruit Heights to Calgary to be by Brendon’s side. “There’s no fast way to get to Calgary,” said Darrell. “We tried to get up there as fast as we could.”

 Darrell had to drive back and forth to Calgary and said when he left Brendon couldn’t say one word. “He was frustrated. He would grab my hand and try to speak but it was a hum. When I couldn’t understand him he would push my hand away and grab Cathy’s and do the same thing. When she didn’t understand he took his blanket and threw it over his head.”

When he returned the next week, Darrell said Brendon had improved. “It has been night and day since I left.” 

Brendon has been an outstanding athlete his whole life, said Darrell. “He grew up playing soccer and basketball. He was so fast that he was a terror on the soccer field but he decided to focus on basketball.”

He was a leading scorer and rebounder, Darrell said. “He ran track as well and his senior year he was the anchor on the 4x100 relay that holds the state record.”

Brendon got a scholarship to Everett College where he was a powerful scorer and led the team in rebounds, said Darrell. “He was named player of the week several times. When he got through Everett he had several offers but they never felt right to him. He’d always wanted to play internationally. So when he got an offer to Lethbridge in Canada it took off from there.”

“He left such a huge imprint on the team,” said Petersen. “So many people from the ‘Kodiak Family’ came to see him. Players, coaches and parents traveled to Calgary and it was two hours each way.”

Brendon was a very selfless person and player, she said. “They felt like they owed him the world.”

All the love the family has been shown has been overwhelming, Petersen said. “We’re so grateful. People have helped us get flights, transportation and hotel rooms. They just tell us to pay it forward. There’s a lot of good people here.”

Brendon came home to Salt Lake City last week and he’s now at Intermountain in Murray. “A shout out to the IHC team,” said Darrell. “They don’t give him a break. They push him. Nothing is wrong with his body. It’s his mind. He has to think about working his mind like his body. It’s all in the brain.”

Petersen has set up a GoFundMe account for Brendon to help with medical expenses at gofundme.com/f/brendon-medical-expenses.