Patricia Valdes vividly remembers the array of emotions she experienced on May 3.
The horror. The helplessness. The heartache.
Patricia was suddenly trapped in her worst nightmare. Her youngest daughter, Julieta, was laying on the floor of their home without a pulse.
Julieta was flatlined for 23 minutes before first responders were able to retrieve her from the doorstep of complete tragedy.
“I wondered at what time they would decide not to continue,” Patricia said. “I am very grateful that they fought to bring her back. When I heard they had a pulse and they were going to transfer her to the hospital, I had relief in my heart.”
Julieta, at just 16 years old, had suffered cardiac arrest.
The Woodlands’ newest volleyball sensation was going through a workout with her older sister, Patty, when the incident occurred late that night. Julieta was doing pushups when she lost consciousness and collapsed onto the floor.
“Patty started screaming that something happened with Julieta,” Patricia said. “I ran to them, and I saw Julieta was trying to breathe, but she couldn’t. Of course, I didn’t know what was happening, and I didn’t know she was having a cardiac arrest.”
Patricia instinctively started to perform CPR, although she had no formal training, while Patty called 9-1-1. The operator instructed Patty to continue the resuscitation efforts while they waited for the EMTs to arrive on the scene. Those precious minutes proved to be crucial to Julieta’s survival.
Only a small percentage of patients who survive cardiac arrest are able to recover full brain and motor development, but the resuscitation efforts of her sister and mother ensured her organs were receiving some blood flow and oxygenation.
When the professionals took over, the only option was to watch and hope for the best.
“Of course, (Patty) and I were crying and didn’t know what to do,” Patricia said. “It was very emotional. We thought that we lost her.”
Once the first responders were able to revive Julieta, they transported her to nearby Texas Children’s Hospital in The Woodlands. Julieta was stabilized at the facility, but the doctors decided to transfer her to the Houston location, which was more equipped to provide the proper treatment.
“When we arrived at the Houston hospital, I saw maybe 20-25 doctors waiting for her,” Patricia said. “I felt they were very well-prepared for the situation. They explained to me every step, every situation that she was going through and the consequences of every decision. They made me very confident with the steps they were suggesting. I put my belief in them, and we followed what they were suggesting. I put my faith in God and prayed.”
As soon as they received the news, Julieta’s father, Francisco and brother, Xavier, began the process of traveling from Mexico to Houston.
Julieta underwent emergency surgery the following morning for an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) treatment. EMCO uses a pump to circulate blood through an artificial lung back into the bloodstream. This system provides heart-lung bypass support outside of the body.
The next several days were trying ones for the family as Julieta had to navigate different complications and procedures.
One week after her initial surgery for the ECMO, Julieta underwent another procedure to install an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). This device will automatically shock the heart back into rhythm should another cardiac arrest occur in the future.
Xavier was the first person to post on a CaringBridge.org page dedicated to providing updates on his sister’s condition, even before he landed in Texas. Those updates continued for the next few weeks as Julieta progressed in her recovery at the hospital.
Community support
While the family was attending to Julieta and her medical needs, the volleyball community jumped into action with financial aid and emotional support.
Julieta plays for the Houston Juniors Volleyball Club, and director Stephanie Rhodes knew her organization had to act. The club organized a GoFundMe.com page where people could donate funds to help the Valdes family with medical and other related expenses.
“The support in the volleyball community is enormous,” Rhodes said. “The things that we found out through doing the GoFundMe was not just the money that we raised for Julieta. There was a player in Dallas that had gone through the same thing and is playing with the same type of equipment that they put in Julieta. Then there was a coach at a university who had gone through the same thing. So even though we were able to raise money, we were also able to connect the family with people that had gone through the exact same thing.”
The response to the fundraising effort was overwhelming. More than $54,000 was collected for the family as more than 700 donors stepped forward. People also showed their support through messages, cards, flowers, balloons and other miscellaneous acts of kindness.
The Woodlands coach Terri Wade and the players in her program also played a huge role in giving the Valdes family the support they needed.
“They have such a huge volleyball family, just from our program of 50 kids and everybody being concerned about her,” Wade said. “Then she has another team she plays for at Houston Juniors, so her team there had a lot of care and concern for her. Their whole club just came together to rally around one of their players. Being in the volleyball world, you have connections from all over the place, so there were all kinds of people and teams reaching out to see what they could do.”
Julieta was finally able to leave the hospital on May 25. She was greeted at her house by a large group of supporters with celebratory hand-crafted signs. Seeing that particular outpouring of love, along with the other efforts from people around Greater Houston and beyond, was touching for Julieta and her family.
“It just means the world,” Julieta said. “I woke up to so many texts and so many caring wishes from a lot of people that I didn’t even know. I think the volleyball community is just outstanding. There’s so many people who reached out to me - big inspirations of mine, college players that have never heard of me before. I came home to all my friends and family and a lot of people in the volleyball community who donated and gave lots of gifts. I had a room filled to the brim with balloons because people just kept them coming. I don’t know what my family would have done without all the donations that we got. It’s just been amazing.”
Road to recovery
Since her release from the hospital, Julieta has been quarantined at home due to the coronavirus pandemic. She has a higher risk for severe illness because of the cardiac arrest and subsequent procedures. Nevertheless, she is thankful for every day and more determined than ever to make a full recovery.
“It’s been incredibly hard,” Julieta said. “I didn’t really know how much shock your body went into when it came to things like this. You don’t really know until you really experience it. I just lost complete mobility of my body, and when I was on the ECMO machine, I had my sternum and chest open for quite a while. So moving my upper body and just doing simple things like reaching down to scratch my leg, I just coulnd’t do it. I look at my progress now from where I was in the hospital, and I’m just extremely thankful that I had people to get me through rehab. I’m still on the road to recovery.”
That road to recovery has included plenty of physical therapy. The challenges are tough, but progress is being made. Earlier this week, Julieta shared a video of her moving around unassisted in the driveway of her house, hitting a volleyball off the garage door. Her passion for the sport is part of what keeps her motivated.
“I want to prove that I can come back and do everything I used to do before,” Julieta said. “A lot of this has come from other people that have done through the same thing. I have met an incredible amount of people that have had cardiac arrest and now have the same device that I do, and they’re out there living their normal lives now. Talking to sudden cardiac arrest survivors has helped a lot because I see them now, years and years after their accidents, and it just kind of gives me hope that I can be there, too.”
Julieta still has dreams of playing volleyball at the college level. She is one of the top recruits in the country for the Class of 2022, and for good reason. Julieta is a 6-foot-1 outside hitter who earned first-team All-District 15-6A honors as a freshman. She was also a second-team All-Montgomery County selection. During her inaugural campaign with The Woodlands, she finished second on the team behind LSU signee Dylan Maberry with 319 kills.
Wade is confident Julieta will be able to overcome her setback and return to the court. All of her athletic aspirations are still very much on the table.
“It’s just her work ethic,” Wade said. “She doesn’t do it just for continuing to play. She loves it, and it’s her lifestyle. She enjoys being fit and getting better. In our offseason, we did a lot of character development. I would give them questions they would answer, and just seeing her maturity and growth was amazing. She would talk about her goals for the future, and I could see such a big desire to be the best she can be and do bigger things in her volleyball career.”
Julieta has a stress test on July 29, which could medically clear her for a return to sports. She will be able to train however she sees fit should the results come back positive. Julieta obviously does not want to rush back, but she has also not ruled out playing for The Woodlands at some point this fall.
Volleyball practices are set to begin Aug. 3, although the current coronavirus situation in Texas could impact the fall sports schedule.
“After I get back into training, I should at least be able to practice with them, maybe not playing,” Julieta said. “But I’m hopeful by maybe the end of the year, if we make it to regionals on our road to state, that I’ll be able to play for those games.”
When the day comes for her to reunite with her teammates and coaches, Julieta will be ready.
“I don’t even know how to describe it,” she said. “It brings butterflies to my stomach. I love playing with them. It’s the most fun in the world.”
jpoorman@hcnonline.com
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All Heart: The Woodlands’ Julieta Valdes continues recovery - Houston Chronicle
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