Nov 19, 2008 - 04:05:25 CST
Rick Neumann was doing preseason work earlier during the school year with the post players on the University of Mary basketball team.He threw a chest pass inside to one of the players. The ball wasn't the only thing that went flying through the air.
Neumann's wedding ring slipped off his finger and went airborne.
Pretty much anything that Neumann wore at that time didn't fit him. The U-Mary assistant coach had lost 60 pounds from March through the end of August after battling ulcerative colitis, a form of inflammatory bowel disease.
In January, Neumann weighed in at 180 pounds. After a 16-day hospital stay in August, he barely tipped the scale at 120 pounds.
"When he came back to work here, some people didn't even recognize him," U-Mary head coach Fred Fridley said. "You feel terrible and helpless at the same time because there's nothing you can do as a person to help him out. I saw him go through some extremely tough days.
"Yeah, he's a colleague, but he's probably one of my best friends,"Fridley added. "Anytime you see a person you care about as much as I care about Rick, go through this, it puts stuff in perspective for you in the game of life."
Neumann, who first thought he had stomach flu, was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in March. He tried three different medications to try to manage the illness, which made him more sick. He even tried natural healing methods.
In addition to coaching, Neumann serves as an assistant director of the school's Harold Schafer Leadership Academy. He's in charge of the education students.
Neumann, 33, hit rock bottom toward the end of July when he was coming back to Bismarck from a recruiting trip in the Minneapolis/St. Cloud area.
"I wanted to just come home, but we were really after a player, and it was really important that she saw us there a lot,"said Neumann, who is from Fessenden. "I tried to tough it out. But driving home from Minneapolis that last weekend wasn't a lot of fun."
A lengthy hospital stay
Shortly after the Minnesota trip, Neumann entered the hospital for his 16-day stay. He battled a 104-degree temperature for four straight nights. He mysteriously developed an air bubble in his chest cavity. Doctors thought that it was caused by too much vomiting and were concerned about a torn esophagus.
He received multiple CT scans, X-rays, blood tests and a blood transfusion.
Earlier Neumann underwent a colonoscopy, which showed small ulcers located about 9 inches in his colon. A second colonoscopy during his hospital stay showed the ulcers covering his entire colon.
Neumann spent his third wedding anniversary with his wife, Jenny, in the hospital. Shortly before entering the hospital, Neumann found out that he and Jenny would be parents for the first time. They are expecting their baby in April.
"A ton of people wrote and sent me cards,"Neumann said. "My wife was there every day, and Fred came every other day. The biggest thing it has shown me is that you think you're young and healthy and have everything to look forward to. Out of the blue everything can go south in a hurry. Sometimes you can't do it alone. You need other people."
And Neumann saw his body deteriorate from all the weight loss.
"It's not funny, because it was a bad situation,"Neumann said. "I looked like a cancer patient or a Holocaust survivor. The one thing I had going for me was I knew my condition wasn't life threatening. I was never really worried about dying."
Neumann was scheduled for an appointment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. He was supposed to undergo surgery to remove his entire colon.
A fourth medication was administered to Neumann in Bismarck, as a last effort. Neumann's prayers were answered the medication worked. He didn't need to make the trip to Rochester, and he would soon start feeling better.
"I wasn't excited about getting my colon removed,"Neumann said. "Yeah, you feel better, but it's a life-changing situation. If that's what it was going to take, I was for it. But I was also hoping we could stay here and get something to work. I was close to my last chance before surgery was no longer an option, but a requirement."
Neumann goes through IV treatments every eight weeks, a two-hour process each visit. He has made some lifestyle changes, including a change in his diet, more exercise, routine checkups and stress management.
Neumann has gained back most of his weight. His scale now registers at 165 pounds.
"The medication is doing wonders,"Neumann said. "Through the miracle of modern medicine, the love and support of family and friends, the team and lots of prayer, I'm symptom-free right now."
The coach
Neumann joined Fridley at U-Mary six years ago. He's involved in all aspects of the program, including recruiting, game preparation, player development and team strategy.
"I feel blessed to have his knowledge on my side,"Fridley said. "I have sat in the room and talked X's and O's with some of the big-time coaches, and Rick is just as good as those people."
One of Neumann's main responsibilities is developing U-Mary's post players. He helped develop two-time NAIA first team All-American Jessica Zundel, and Corrie Villegas and Nicci Landdeck, both All-NSIC first-team selections.
"Post play is unique in our system because it has to do with footwork and what we're doing when the ball is in certain spots," Fridley said. "It's a difficult position to coach in our system. We don't classify post play as a fistfight in our system. We've talked about it being a foot fight. It seems we've always had a post player who has taken our name to a new level, and a lot of that has to do with Rick."
Prior to becoming an assistant at U-Mary, Neumann served as the head girls basketball coach at St. Mary's for three years. He also served as an assistant for the boys program for four years.
Neumann received support from players, former players and friends from U-Mary and St. Mary's, in addition to people from his hometown.
"Realizing how many people in my life care about me is something I can't fathom,"Neumann said. "All the people from the different stages of my life. It makes you realize you must be doing something right. It has inspired me to do what I need to do to stay healthy so I can enjoy all these relationships I have with these great people."
For Neumann, part of staying healthy is managing stress. For a basketball coach at an NCAA university, that's a tall order.
"As a young high school coach, I lhad learned a lot about managing stress,"Neumann said. "We had some tough seasons when I was a head coach, and it wore me down. I turned that aspect of my life around at an early age. I'm the chairman of the fun committee for our team. I'm not a yeller and screamer anymore. I'm primarily a suggestion guy. Fred is the decision guy."
Back to work
Neumann's illness didn't affect U-Mary's offseason strategies and recruiting, even though the staff meets in August to discuss plans for the upcoming season.
"We have a veteran crew coming back, so we knew we didn't have to make a lot of changes,"Neumann said. "It was fortunate for us that we didn't have a team of primarily freshmen and sophomores that we had to start over with."
Fridley never doubted that Neumann would recover for the upcoming season.
"It never ever crossed my mind," Fridley said. "Finding someone else wasn't the option. I told him the option was for him to get well.
"Isaw plenty of Rick's friends come through the doors," Fridley added. "You find out in a hurry who is loyal to you."
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