OSU Assistant Finds Purpose In Near-Death Experience

Oklahoma State men's basketball opens Big 12 play Saturday against TCU in Stillwater.

For one Cowboys’ assistant coach, this holiday season has been extra special.

A survivor, and a man of faith, Tommy Wade actually considers a near-death experience a blessing.

Last April, OSU's director of player development was on one of his daily runs near campus when he collapsed – statistically, he probably shouldn’t be here.

“Actually I didn’t know anything had happened to me until like May 17, and when I kinda go back and kinda was laying in the hospital bed I circled that day as May 17 and people started telling me exactly what had happened to me,” he said.

He'd suffered a massive heart attack.

A student saw what happened and contacted OSU police; officers William Chandler, Mike Galbreath and Billy Covington responded.

They gave Wade CPR, but another problem complicated the situation.

“That particular day was the warmest day that we’d actually had in the spring. It was about 88 degrees cause it was late in the afternoon and when they laid me on the asphalt my entire back, the back of my arms, the back of my head sustained third-degree burns. My left arm, actually my elbow area, was burned all the way down to the cartilage,” he said.

Wade was taken to the hospital and later transferred to Oklahoma City where he spent eight days in a medically induced coma.

His heart stabilized and doctors then went to work on his burns - multiple skin grafts, then months of therapy.

Finally, on November 1, Wade drove from Oklahoma City back to Stillwater for the first time since that day in April.

“People have asked me, ‘Tell me about that drive back,’ and very emotional, but I drove the speed limit and I think I was actually doing well driving my car, and that was a great feeling,” Wade said.

It's a fight not everyone wins, but it's a type of fight Wade has won, twice; ten years ago he was diagnosed with stage-4 colon cancer.

“And I had surgery and then I went through eight months of chemo. In the back of my mind I was always thinking ‘you know what I’ve beaten cancer.’ So what the experience of that gave me a lot of mental toughness,” he said.

So now he's returned - taking notes at every walk through and workout, not back to running yet, but with a deep perspective on life, and a sense of purpose that's stronger than ever.

“I do have a purpose, and my purpose is to be around these young people, and maybe something they see in me – they see me overcome my health issues, and maybe that can help them become a student, or a better player or work a little harder,” Wade said.