How Waukee Northwest's Cael Winter survived a near-death scare and returned to sports

Cael Winter is talking about the two weeks he spent in the hospital last year, with blood clots in his lungs and necrotizing pneumonia and a team of doctors telling him he might never play sports again, and two things immediately jump out.

First, he speaks about the whole thing with such a casual tone, which is wild since the doctors told him at one point that he “had less than a 30% chance of making it out alive,” he says now.

“Inside, I knew I would be all right,” he continues. “I was honestly thinking, ‘What can I do to play on Friday?’”

Two, the bull-headed determination that helped Winter navigate a two-week hospital stay and two-month recovery is still very palpable — and a large reason why he’s still authoring a remarkable comeback story.

Winter's major health scare happened a year ago this month. He spent a week in the intensive care unit at Blank Children’s Hospital. He had close to three pounds of fluid drained from his lungs, he says, and lost about 40 pounds total. He missed the last two games of Waukee Northwest’s inaugural football season and the first month of wrestling season.

His triumphant return has so far included a fifth-place finish at the state wrestling tournament, an individual conference title in the shot put, and continues this fall as a senior captain of a Northwest football team that’s battled back to 3-3 after an 0-3 start.

“The Legend of Cael Winter should definitely be a thing,” says Chad Vollmecke, an assistant football coach and the head wrestling coach at Northwest. “He’s a special kind of dude, and we’re all just along for the ride.”

This all started in October of 2021, right after Ankeny blasted Northwest, 48-7, in Week 8. That dropped the Wolves to 4-4 and onto the playoff bubble. A win over Urbandale in Week 9 guaranteed a trip to the playoffs, but Winter had a much bigger battle ahead.

More:Des Moines Register high school athletes of the week for Sept. 25-Oct. 1

A pain on his right side from a few weeks earlier had grown from nagging to sharp. Maybe a pulled muscle, he thought, except he couldn’t breathe properly. He went to watch film that Monday morning, on Oct. 18, then called his mom, Melissa.

Things were bad, he told her.

“He called me around noon and said, ‘I need you to talk to coach, there’s no way I can practice,’” Melissa recalls. “In the past, he’s had strep or 100-degree fevers and still begs me to go to practice. He’s never wanted to miss for anything.

“So when he said that, I knew something was really wrong — and it went from bad to worse really quick.”

Doctors originally thought kidney stones, gave him a shot of toradol and sent them home, but the pain persisted. Melissa raced to Mary Greeley Medical Center in Ames, since Blank was full at the time, and scans revealed blood clots all over his lungs.

An ambulance took Winter back to Blank, where he underwent multiple surgeries and operations over a two-week period. That Thursday, October 21, he was diagnosed with necrotizing pneumonia, a rare complication that left him with permanent lung damage. He was transferred to Blank’s PICU for a week.

“The hematologist told him, ‘The instincts of your mom probably saved your life,’” Melissa continues. “It was very spooky.”

More:A look at Iowa high school football's Week 7 schedule of games, kickoff times for Friday

Northwest beat Urbandale, 17-16, that week to qualify for the Class 5A playoffs, but Melissa mostly remembers all the support her son received from across the state.

Chain Wrestling, an online wrestling outfitter owned by Iowa State wrestlers from Des Moines, sold shirts and donated the profits to Winter’s family. Vollmecke FaceTimed Winter every day. Students from rival schools sent encouraging messages. Iowa State football coach Matt Campbell called to let Winter know he was thinking about him.

“That was pretty cool,” Winter says. “All the support I got, that helped a lot. The whole experience also brought me closer to God and strengthened my faith.”

Winter was out of the hospital in time to attend Northwest’s playoff game on Oct. 29 (a 42-3 loss to Ankeny), but the road to recovery was just beginning. Doctors advised patience, told him he’d be on blood thinners for six months to a year, that one of the blood clots might never disappear, and cautioned that sports might not happen again.

Things quickly improved.

He was on blood-thinners for just two months, adhering to a strict regimen that he says he could not miss, or else he could set himself back months or possibly forever. Each week, he was given more freedom — to ride a bike, to lift weights, to throw the shot put. He was eventually allowed to wrestle a little, then a lot.

“My focus then was just getting back to wrestle,” Winter says. “I put a lot of work into wrestling and football last summer, and missing the last few games last year wasn’t fun. I was just focused on doing the right things to give myself a chance.”

More:Breaking down Iowa high school football RPI rankings and district standings ahead of Week 7

On Jan. 5 — exactly 79 days after he was first admitted to the hospital, and 38 days before the district wrestling tournament — doctors gave him all-clear.

“Just sheer determination,” Melissa adds. “He never complained. He never whined. He never felt sorry for himself. It was always, ‘What do I have to do?’ Well, he had to give himself injections every 12 hours. He gave himself a bunch of inhalers. He did a bunch of stuff, all by himself. He was freaking bound and determined to wrestle.

“The hematologist said, ‘I can’t even believe that we’re even having this conversation.’”

The next night, Winter recorded three pins in a four-team dual meet. A week later, he won the Ed Winger Classic at Urbandale. He went 23-5 in a 45-day span and took fifth at the state wrestling tournament, scoring vital team points to help Northwest finish second in the Class 3A team race.

In the spring, Winter won the CIML Iowa Conference Meet in the shot put and was ranked as high as sixth in Class 4A. Now he is back playing football for a Northwest team that’s ranked No. 11 in the Class 5A RPI standings with three games remaining, all against tough opponents: Centennial (4-2), Ankeny (5-1), and Urbandale (4-2).

“I smile a lot,” Vollmecke says. “He’s taking advantage of the opportunities in front of him. He’s not perfect, by any means. He can be a pain in the (butt) and still makes mistakes, but him coming through that was the expectation — at least for him.

“He did everything he was supposed to do to give himself an opportunity, and it’s been really been special to witness.”

Winter has played on both the offensive and defensive lines this fall. He’s blocking for an offense that’s hit 240 rushing yards in each of the last three games, all wins. Against Sioux City East last Friday, a 17-7 Wolves win, he recorded three tackles, two for a loss, forced a fumble, and pressured East quarterback Cole Ritchie all night.

Through six games, Winter has actually lined up at at least seven different positions — seriously: defensive end; defensive tackle; fullback; center; left tackle; right tackle. That versatility has intrigued college coaches, including Campbell and his staff. Winter has secured some NAIA offers, but will be in Ames this Saturday for a gameday visit.

“I feel like I’ve played great so far,” Winter says. “I just try to play my best every game. I’m trying to play football in college so I’m focused on being the best I can be.”

Winter’s story will continue through the rest of this season, into wrestling season, perhaps another track season, and, he hopes, into a fruitful college football career. And he says all of this with that casual tone, which honestly says a lot about his mindset.

Because, in his words, “this is what I would be doing if I hadn’t gotten sick.” Again, that bull-headed determination. In a quick moment of reflection, he admits that the whole experience was “pretty scary at the time,” but he talks like a kid who not only learned to stretch his own boundaries, but embraces the idea that he may not have any at all.

“I’m tougher than I thought,” Winter says. “This past year, thinking about what I did and went through, has been pretty cool. I just had a feeling that everything was going to be all right.”

Cody Goodwin covers wrestling and high school sports for the Des Moines Register. Follow him on Twitter at @codygoodwin.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Inside an Iowa high school football player's return from near death