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Phil Ratliff needs prayers

sistersville

Platinum Buffalo
Mar 17, 2007
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Just heard from Phil's aunt that he had suffered some kind of attack and needs our prayers
 
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Oh my. My wife taught with Jenny for years. I hope he can come out of it and make a full recovery.
 
Wow horrible news. Prayers to him and his family. Such a promising career for him.
 
I have a meeting at cherryville later and go right by Phil's parents house. I live next to wal mart and went up there and some say its very serious
 
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My wife and I had the privilege of talking with Phil and Jenny several times. We think a lot of them. Prayers up.
 
Must have had some significant family history.

Most likely if he is on a vent they are trying to cool his body to minimize tissue damage to the heart and probably also on a balloon pump. And then will gradually warm him later to check his heart function.
 
Must have had some significant family history.

Most likely if he is on a vent they are trying to cool his body to minimize tissue damage to the heart and probably also on a balloon pump. And then will gradually warm him later to check his heart function.

They are. They were on a coaches retreat and he had the heart attack while in a canoe. He fell in the river and went under water for sometime. They're worried about brain damage and pneumonia as well. They had to do CPR for an hour and a half before they got him to a hospital. Haven't heard any updates really, but did hear it doesn't look too good. Hopefully something has changed for the good since the last update I heard about.
 
Damn, was just following his family vacation on twitter. He's still so young and seems really happy in Charlotte. We really don't know when our time is up. Hope this isn't Phil's time
 
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They are. They were on a coaches retreat and he had the heart attack while in a canoe. He fell in the river and went under water for sometime. They're worried about brain damage and pneumonia as well. They had to do CPR for an hour and a half before they got him to a hospital. Haven't heard any updates really, but did hear it doesn't look too good. Hopefully something has changed for the good since the last update I heard about.
Cpr for an hour and a half before taking him to the hospital? That just doesn't seem right to me.
 
Lets just pray for a recovery. I got nothing but bad news yesterday and some from neighbors and none of it was true. Phil is still hanging in there but am scared to say a word unless I talk to his dad or mom or brother and sister. I feel horrible for even mentioning that I had been told he had passed.Phil's dad and I use to argue over marshall and ky. Philip was headed to Morehead when I heard him on wsaz and signing with the herd. I called his house and his dad answered I told him they had finally saw the light. That was in 1987. He is a hall of famer. Never met a nicer guy. He came close to redshirting but some injuries propelled him into starting noseman on TV against Tennessee Chatanooga. Jim Donnan moved him to right offensive tackle and wow what a great move.Phil has a national title ring and played in another final against georgia southern.Boy time flies. When Phil signed with the herd I had went to all home games for 14 yrs.
 
The duration of CPR is correct. My wife received a text this morning saying the doctors have found no damage to the heart. They will now start the process of evaluating the brain. Lets continue to hope and pray for a full recovery. Phil had a heart procedure done years ago and was on heart medication.
 
The duration of CPR is correct. My wife received a text this morning saying the doctors have found no damage to the heart. They will now start the process of evaluating the brain. Lets continue to hope and pray for a full recovery. Phil had a heart procedure done years ago and was on heart medication.
If it wasnt heart, hopefully it wasnt a stroke.
 
Hearing that it is a heart arrhythmia (sp), an irregular heart beat. May have caused him to pass out and fall out of the boat.

Stable but the next day or so are critical
 
They are. They were on a coaches retreat and he had the heart attack while in a canoe. He fell in the river and went under water for sometime. They're worried about brain damage and pneumonia as well. They had to do CPR for an hour and a half before they got him to a hospital. Haven't heard any updates really, but did hear it doesn't look too good. Hopefully something has changed for the good since the last update I heard about.

Woody just tweeted they think it was heart arrhythmia. If that's the case, can this version of events still possible be true? I'm not saying it isn't, I just wasn't under the impression that arrhythmia could lead to something as serious as this...
 
probably more like a tachycardia... and yes those events can seem JUST like a heart attach and yes you can faint. HOpefully he wasn't under water long. Sometimes those things you need a pacemaker or beta blocker to deal
 
I'll try to find out more, but I did hear a little today. Just like posted above.. heart seems ok. Still worried about other issues though.
 
Considering my wife is getting texts from Phils wife - I just re-post what she sends. Since they can't talk to him, its all speculation until the get through all testing. Prayers for the family.
 
Prayers for Phil and Jenny . Great likable guy, Jenny's a sweetheart. And prayers for their son, too.
 
Don't expect much to change through the weekend - evaluations then may tell the tale. We must just wait and let the doctors do what they do, slowly, as they try to make sure Phil is given a full chance to recover. God is strong, and so is Phil, so keep hoping-wishing-praying-wanting for him to get better, and remember his family as well during this very tough time.
 
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Could have been tachycardia or even bradycardia. Both can make you pass out. Either way it sounds like it happened in the wrong place at the wrong time if he fell in the water. He probably aspirated on the water which leads to a whole new set of problems like aspiration pneumonia. Had this been on land he likely would have been ok.
 
Could have been tachycardia or even bradycardia. Both can make you pass out. Either way it sounds like it happened in the wrong place at the wrong time if he fell in the water. He probably aspirated on the water which leads to a whole new set of problems like aspiration pneumonia. Had this been on land he likely would have been ok.

I'm hearing similar from people at the hospital with him. They said, basically, that without the water, this probably wouldn't have been a big deal. Him falling into water is what is what caused it to be this big. They don't believe it's a heart attack at all now. They're very slowly raising his body temperature and they won't be able to do any brain activity testing until probably Saturday. They don't expect much in the way of big updates until then, at least.
 
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1992 team is rallying behind. I have been getting constant calls, texts, FB messages updating and or asking for info.
 
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Wow so sad. Prayers for his wife and children and family. Feel so bad for them..
 
I don't know that this really changes things, but Woody posted this about 50 mins ago on Facebook/twitter:

"Just to clear up some things on our friend, Phil Ratliff.
Phil remains on life support in the hospital in Hickory, N.C., where he was transported after an a-fib event during a canoe trip with the staff and family of Charlotte football where he took a great deal of water into his system because of the cardiac event.
His family, teammates and friends have gathered in Hickory, where today his showed very little brain activity after some reactions earlier in the week to stimuli.
His family will make a decision with the medical staff about moving forward or ending the life support system in their own time.
Thanks for everyone's prayers during this, and while Phil needs your prayers and memories of how we loved this person/player/coach/father/husband/son, don't forget to add his lovely wife, Jenni, his daughter, Haley, his son, Dylan, and his mother and father, Sharon and James, to your list.
God is strong, and the Ratliff family - as well as the Charlotte 49ers-Marshall Thundering Herd-JMU Dukes-Spring Valley Timberwolves-Lawrence Co. Bulldogs-Louisa, Ky.-Huntington, W.Va.-and Charlotte, N.C. family and friends to your prayers tonight, tomorrow and forward. Thanks for all you have done to date from all of them."
 
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I believe they were just keeping him on life support to get family in. That's the only thing that makes sense to me considering Brian posted late yesterday evening like he was either already gone, or they knew he was going to be.
 
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