Nine years ago, Chai Baker awoke to a bewildering scene.
The Oregon State basketball player had no idea why he was in a hospital bed, a tube down his throat, a monitor tracking his vital signs and loved ones by his side.
“It was terrifying,” Baker said. “I didn’t know what happened. I didn’t even know where I was or how long I’d been there.”
Baker soon learned that he’d collapsed two days earlier during a workout at Oregon State’s practice facility. At first, teammates noticed him gasping for air in the layup line. Moments later, athletic trainer Tom Fregoso was scrambling to administer CPR and shock Baker’s heart back into rhythm after the 19-year-old crumpled to the court and began convulsing.