Baseball player in a coma gets help from Pizza Hut

CREATED Nov. 29, 2012

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An Emmett baseball player is getting some big time support, after a severe accident during a game left him in a coma.

Cory Holm was injured in October and for a while it appeared he was going to be paralyzed. That was bad enough, but then his injury went from bad, to the unthinkable.

Cory's family and his baseball family at Treasure Valley Community College is devastated over his injury. But, Thursday from noon to 8 p.m. Thursday, all across Idaho, Pizza Hut donated 20 percent of its sales to help out this young man.

“Some guy hits a line drive, he all out dove for it and they told me he caught it. But, he landed and slid into a post in the wall in the outfield. And he just laid there. He was conscious but couldn’t feel his lower part,” said Kari Dietz, Cory’s mom.

Kari Dietz is describing her son's last baseball game, on Oct. 24.

“I don’t know but he landed and slid into a post in the wall in the outfield. And just laid there,” said Dietz.

She wasn’t there to see it, but one of his teammates called her right away.

“You gotta get over here, Cory 's hurt himself running into the wall,” said Dietz.

Cory was a triple athlete at Emmett High School. Now, he’s in his sophomore year with the TVCC Chukars. His mom was used to his sports injuries, but had no idea what happened this time. Doctors gave her the terrible news.

“He has a severely broken C-7,” said Dietz.

But at the emergency room in Ontario, Cory, was more worried about his family.

“His biggest thing was he was so sorry to everyone, you know just apologizing to me, for getting hurt,” said Dietz.

Then his condition took a dramatic turn. While he was in the hospital, he had an episode that sent him into a coma.

She was told, “Your son has about 45 minutes to live.”

Cory's body completely shut down.

“Your son has experienced a severe toxic episode and we don’t know what happened but, he’s on 100 percent support," doctors told Dietz. "He has no blood pressure, not taking any oxygen, his lungs have shut down, his kidneys have completely shut down. He’s experienced total system failure. Total organ failure. We don’t know what’ going on with him right now."

Holm has been in a coma since. But, Thursday they moved him to an acute care facility in Meridian.

Their hope is to one day get their son back.

“Everyone's just really hopeful that he'll wake up completely and talk to us again, you know and get that back,” said Dietz.