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46 °F 5 Day Forecast Sunday, November 30, 2003 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | eSouthernOregon | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend May 3, 2003 It has been a trying year for Crater girls basketball coach Scott Dippel, right, and his wife Jennifer. Days before he began his first season as the Comets� coach, Scott Dippel was diagnosed with a rare case of cavernous malformation, or cavernoma, a con Mail Tribune / Roy Musitelli Road to recovery With unflinching optimism, Crater girls basketball coach Scott Dippel recoups from brain surgery to correct a condition that surfaced at the start of last season "The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up." — Mark Twain 19th-century American author By TIM PYLE Mail Tribune CENTRAL POINT — Even in the worst of times, Scott Dippel makes you believe it’s the best of times. That is his nature, and never has it been more evident than in the last five months. Diagnosed with a rare brain ailment uncovered by a frightening seizure just days before he began his first season as head coach of the Crater High girls basketball team, Dippel didn’t flinch. Instead, the recently turned 27-year-old fought through his health problems to guide the Comets to another in their long line of successful seasons. Advertisement At its conclusion, he underwent brain surgery to correct a rare case of cavernous malformation, or cavernoma, a rare condition found in 0.5 percent of the general population, according to the Toronto Brain Vascular Malformation Study Group. On March 12, Dippel had successful surgery at Rogue Valley Medical Center under the care of Dr. Miro Bobek. On April 22, Dippel returned to teaching ninth-grade history and leadership at Crater High, two weeks ahead of schedule. His recovery is far from complete, but it is progressing impressively. And he’s done it all with his trademark enthusiasm, willing to share a smile and laugh even in January, when the Comets were struggling and his health was at its worst. "That’s the way I want to be," he says. "There’s two ways you can go when you have something like this happen. You can sit and worry and be negative, or you can turn and say, ‘This is happening for a reason, and I understand that.’ "That was important to me, being positive about the whole thing." Although Dippel’s demeanor may have convinced otherwise, the last five months have been anything but easy. And his story nothing short of remarkable. On the night of Dec. 4, with his game debut as Crater’s head coach just two days away, Dippel’s life changed forever. He went to bed with thoughts of the Comets’ season no doubt swimming through his head. He awoke some 30 minutes later in an ambulance speeding toward the Rogue Valley Medical Center. "The seizure was the worst," says Jennifer Dippel, Scott’s wife, in recalling that fateful night. "I had just come to bed. He fell off the bed and hit the floor when it happened. It was pretty scary, especially when you’ve never seen something like that. "It was kind of a surreal thing. When it happened, I said, ‘Scott, you big dork, you just fell off the bed.’ But then he didn’t respond." Scott Dippel’s seizure led to an initial diagnosis of arterial venous malformation (AVM) of the brain. That prognosis was later amended to cavernoma. The two conditions are closely linked, having to do with abnormal blood vessels that cause a bleed in the brain. But while an AVM bleed is spread out like, say, a spider, a cavernoma more closely resembles the density of a raspberry. That night in the hospital, filled with uncertainty, was a tough one for Dippel and all of his loved ones. Yet the young coach’s mind never wandered far from his team. "The first thing he wanted to know was if I was OK," Jennifer says. "The second thing he wanted to know was if he was going to be able to go to Reno (Nev., on the season-opening road trip)." During school the next day, word of Dippel’s seizure spread among the players. "We went to the hospital, and they weren’t letting anybody in," says Whitney Black, Crater’s point guard. "So that scared us. We were definitely concerned. We didn’t know what to think. "But that night at practice, his dad, Greg (a Comets assistant), told us what had happened. Greg definitely filled us in on everything, so we were reassured." Scott Dippel was not cleared to make the season-opening road trip, but he was working the sidelines six days later when Crater played its first home game. Despite sickly side effects from the medication he was initially prescribed and the knowledge that brain surgery might be and then, in fact, was looming, Dippel continued to guide the Comets all season. And he did so successfully. Midway through the Southern Oregon Conference schedule, with Crater struggling at 3-4 in league play, Dippel reinvented the Comets’ approach. He essentially took the reins off, hoping the individual talent and athleticism of his young team would prosper in a free-flowing atmosphere. Crater responded by winning five straight games, then lost two before beating South Medford in a tiebreaker to determine the SOC’s fourth playoff team. The Comets fell in the second round of the Class 4A state playoffs at Lake Oswego, but they finished 15-12 overall and earned the program’s eighth straight postseason appearance. "Both as a coach and as a father, I thought he did an excellent job with the organization of the season, the types of systems that he decided to run," says Greg Dippel, who joined Kevin Corwin and J.T. Thomas as Scott Dippel’s assistants. "He basically matched up the offensive and defensive systems with the personnel we had and did a nice job of that. "We caught our stride about midseason and started to play very well." Strangely enough, Scott Dippel’s health improved about the time his team’s play did. "The end of December and early January were bad," Jennifer Dippel says. "There was a period where he was on some medication that wasn’t right. Bad side effects. He just wasn’t himself and didn’t feel good. "He really started to feel better about the same time the team started winning (the beginning of February). It was a little more than just coincidence." Dippel’s mind was put somewhat at ease when he found a neurologist of his liking in early February. The fact that Bobek, who had recently moved from Michigan to join the Medford Neurological & Spine Clinic, was a local doctor was a welcome surprise. "I was in the decision of do I go to Portland, do I go to San Francisco, do I stay here?" Dippel says. "When I met him, he was real humble, and he was very, very good with my family. I just knew that’s who I wanted." Bobek changed the diagnosis to a cavernoma and put Dippel on new medication that proved much better. The doctor also informed Dippel that brain surgery was necessary at season’s end. But through it all, Black, a junior who has known Scott Dippel through the Crater youth program since she was in fifth grade, says her coach was never visibly ill or upset about his situation. "I didn’t notice a thing," she says. "He was the same old Scott." Dippel wouldn’t have it any other way. "His main concern was the girls didn’t have to see any adverse reactions," says his father. It seems he succeeded despite gutting through mornings when "he doesn’t know he got up and went to work," says his wife. Once the season ended Feb. 27, Dippel turned his full attention to his health. With surgery set for March 12, he went through a pre-operation routine that included shaving his head — "which was a good look for me," he quips. When the day of the surgery arrived, Dippel still had his good humor in tow. "I joked with my wife when we were leaving that day, ‘You know, I don’t think I’m gonna go today,’" he says. He did go, and the three-hour operation went off without a hitch at Rogue Valley Medical Center, removing a damaged area of a couple centimeters at the left, front of his brain. Afterward, surgeon’s assistant Ken Milsap, a veteran Rogue Valley referee, was there to razz a groggy Dippel. "He said that he removed the part of the brain that made me yell at officials," Dippel recalls with a chuckle. "One of my family members later said, ‘You’re always gonna have a special bond with that guy. It’s gonna be hard to yell at him.’ I said, ‘Well, we’ll see about that.’" A month-and-a-half has passed since Dippel’s surgery, and he is feeling better by the day. Following just two nights in the hospital, he returned home. And by the Monday after the Wednesday operation, he was walking a mile. Now he’s back to his full, 7 a.m.-2 p.m. teaching schedule at Crater, although fatigue usually lulls him into an afternoon nap, and he can’t drive until June. He’s even talked his way into the Comet gym a time or two, taking in individual workouts as Crater prepares for the summer season. In every aspect, Dippel’s recovery is ahead of schedule, and he and his wife of two years expect it to stay that way. "As far as we know, it’s totally gone, and we’ll never have to deal with it again," Jennifer Dippel says. "His surgeon thinks there’ll be no more seizures." Regular checkups, a drug prescription, a small metal plate in his head and a scar at the edge of his hair line are reminders of what’s happened, but Scott Dippel is moving ahead. "I’m looking forward to being able to coach again," he says, eagerly noting that he’s already reviewed the Comets’ past season on tape — at least once — and drawn up some new plays. Still, how the coach himself got through the winter is somewhat of a mystery. "It’s kind of amazing that we just kept going and got through it," says Dippel, who credits his family, coaching staff, players and a host of others for the continuing aid. "Getting through it is a testament to the people that are around me. ... I had a lot of support and help. And I was determined." He is also a man more attuned to the little things in life after his brush with mortality. "You can’t go through something like that and not have it change you," says the 1994 Crater graduate, who holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Portland and a master’s from Southern Oregon University. "You come out with a better appreciation for family and friends and people you work with. ... You kind of see how fragile things are. It’s been crazy." But the optimism and smile never wavered. "He’s a young man that makes everybody else feel comfortable," says his father. "He’s always been that way." And always will be. Reach reporter Tim Pyle at 776-4483 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2003 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback 3 WEEKS FREE! ADVERTISERS SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Real Estate Showcase Food for Thought Hike of the Week Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Openings Prime Times