SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — A senior at Rutland High School is eager to get back on the court after some medical complications sidelined him these past couple of weeks.

Kadyn Gehrels is a three-sport athlete for the Oldham-Ramona/Rutland Raiders. He would have been playing in a basketball game Tuesday, Jan.17, but an illness kept him at home.

“Just came down with the flu. He’s in basketball. Some of his teammates had been sick, so kind of chalked it up to he was, he got it as well. And Tuesday night, went to bed, and basically Wednesday morning went down to check on him around 7:00. He was pretty much unresponsive,” Kadyn’s mom Kassy Olson said.

They quickly got Kadyn to the hospital in Madison, where they did some tests, but he was then flown by helicopter to Sanford Health in Sioux Falls.

“Once we got there, they intubated him right away, too, because they were worried about, he was seizing,” Olson said.

“I just remember having the flu, and the next thing I’m in the hospital breathing out of a breathing tube. I was just so confused at first,” Kadyn said.

Doctors took out the breathing tube a few day later and he was moved out of the ICU. Kadyn has gotten much better since then; however, they are still left without answers. 

“They were looking for autoimmune stuff, metabolic diseases, so kind of just a big puzzle. Nobody really has a clear direction of what exactly happened,” Olson said. 

“Bless their heart. I mean, I can’t thank them so much. It’s just so wonderful,” Kadyn said. 

“There’s no thank you big enough, ever. I’ve been saying everybody has been fighting for us back home so we can be fighting for him and like it’s so true,” Olson said.

Carter Schmidt: “How excited are you to be back on the court, back on the field?”

Kadyn Gehrels: “Excited as I’ll ever be. That’s all I can say.”

Kadyn is out of the hospital and home now, but he will have more therapy appointments as he continues to recover.

If you’d like to be a part of a bean bag tournament or silent auction fundraiser for him, you can find more information here.

You can also support a Meal Train and see updates on Kadyn’s recovery on CaringBridge.