Fourteen-year-old Maleek Allen’s parents thought their athletic son was dealing with exercise-induced asthma when he hit the basketball court, but after a terrifying incident last week that almost claimed his life, they quickly learned it was something entirely different.
Alberta and Corey Miggins were terrified when they heard their son, a freshman at Luther North, had collapsed and stopped breathing during a basketball game at Ida Crown Jewish Academy in Skokie.
“I was really shocked because Maleek has been such a good athlete,” Corey Miggins said.
The family had always been careful with Allen who had been diagnosed with exercise-induced asthma.
“We always made sure we kept the inhaler on us for any sports events – things of that nature,” said Alberta Miggins. “And all this time we were just thinking it was just asthma.”
But it turned out Allen had a much more serious medical problem – hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
Luckily for the teen, Ida Crown baseball coach Steven Greeberg was in the stands and jumped into action, using his training on an AED defibrillator to shock Allen back to life.
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“This is the first time and I hope it’s the only ever time that I will ever have to use it,” said Greenberg.
Early this week, Allen went into surgery to have an internal defibrillator implanted and is now home and on the path to recovery.
“We’re very appreciative,” said Corey Miggins. “We’re very grateful and we just thank God that we have Maleek here.”
