Brady Sackett's Story

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"There aren't enough words. We are just so thankful; thanks for saving Brady." - Cathy Sackett

Sixth-grader Brady Sackett loves all things hockey and is truly grateful to be back on the ice following a serious playground accident nearly three years ago.

In the fall of 2016, Brady was playing tag with friends during recess when he slipped, fell and landed on the playground equipment stairs—hard. He went to the nurse’s office at Bayview Elementary in Waconia because he wasn’t feeling well and wanted to go home. When Brady’s mother, Cathy, arrived at school, she quickly realized something was seriously wrong. “I was shocked when I saw Brady. He was white as a ghost, dripping with sweat and in a lot of pain,” Cathy said. An ambulance was called and within minutes Brady arrived at the Emergency Department at Ridgeview in Waconia.

When Minutes Matter

Emergency medicine physician Dr. Sara Fish immediately performed a bedside ultrasound called FAST (focused

 assessment with sonography for trauma), commonly used in an emergency department as a screening and assessment tool. “After performing the ultrasound, I realized I was unable to see one of Brady’s kidneys,” Dr. Fish explained. “We sent him to Ridgeview’s Imaging Department for a CT scan and confirmed that he had serious kidney damage.”

It was all so scary and really hit when Brady asked, “Am I dying?” said Sackett.

After a couple days in the hospital, doctors determined that Brady’s kidney was healing itself, and no surgery was necessary. “If Dr. Fish hadn’t dug into things so quickly, it could have been a much different outcome,” said Sackett.

Not long after his health scare, he was back to being a normal boy, playing squirt hockey and more.

Premier Partnerships

Due to the severity of Brady’s injury, he was immediately transported to Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis—a level 1 trauma hospital for emergency care. As an independent hospital, Ridgeview has unique partnerships in place with organizations—like Children’s Minnesota—with the option to transfer emergency patients in need of greater levels of trauma care.

“We couldn’t believe it. Everything was happening so fast, it was just over 20 minutes from the moment we arrived at Ridgeview to the time we left for Children’s,” Cathy said.

Ridgeview staff coordinated Brady’s care with Children’s Minnesota. They consulted with the doctors and nurses and sent the ultrasound, CT scan and blood work before Brady even arrived at the facility. “The team at Children’s was ready for Brady as soon as he came through the door,” recalls Matt Sackett, Brady’s father. “After talking to the surgeons, we learned that Brady had a kidney fracture. Basically, his kidney was in pieces and he had severe internal bleeding.”

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