From near-death experience to lifesaver, Thiele makes blood donation a priority

Blood may be thicker than water. It's the fluid of life, an essential force providing a constant flow of resources and creating energy.

For Jesse Thiele, son of Jim and Leenda, the constant flow slowed to a trickle on a fateful September day in 2016.

Thiele, then a fifth-grade student, was at home in Clearwater on Sept. 29, working on a math worksheet, alongside older brothers Eli and Alex.

Alex and Jesse took a break, which turned into a wrestling match.

"I still had a pencil in my hand," Jesse said.

The wrestling match progressed toward the wall.

"The pencil (tip) was facing me," he added.

Alex assumed his younger sibling was holding the writing utensil in his armpit.

Instead, the wood and lead entered Jesse's body just above the collar bone, severing the jugular vein and pushing through a lung before cutting through another artery.

The boys removed the pencil.

Unlike a scene from a movie, where blood would spurt everywhere, there was no visible sign the young Thiele would be wrestling with a life-and-death situation. A few drops of blood bled into his shirt.

"There was just a ton of internal bleeding," Jesse said. He immediately knew something was off and ran to the kitchen, seeking assistance from his mom, Leenda.

He remembers asking for help.

Then, he landed on the floor.

Leenda remembers cooking in the kitchen and chatting with a friend, Dawn Wiegand. She heard the boys wrestling and reminded them to finish their homework.

She walked into the family room, saw Jesse on the floor and told him to get up and get busy. When he didn't move, she asked Eli and Alex if Jesse was hurt and if she needed to call 911.

Leenda couldn't locate her cell phone, so she grabbed the landline and it was dead. Unbeknownst to any of them, the line was unplugged during the wrestling match.

She and Alex ran to the front porch. Serendipity intervened. Brian and Chantel King were on a nightly walk when Leenda asked them to call 911.

"My lips were turning blue then," Thiele said.

The chaotic scene included Eli and Chantel leaving to pick up Jim and Wiegand holding Jesse until members of the Clearwater Fire and Rescue Department responded and transported Thiele to Antelope Memorial Hospital.

Thiele said he's talked to several of the rescue unit members who were with him.

"They didn't think I was going to make it."

Jesse remembers bits and pieces of the ambulance ride. One memory is Steve Hankla tapping him on the face to keep him awake, telling him, "Stay with me Jesse."

"There was a lot of that going on," Hankla told SAM.

"It felt like I was really tired and I wanted to sleep. Steve kept me awake for a long time."

Lifeflight was requested.

"The helicopter was delayed," Jesse said.

The delay may have saved his life, Leenda said.

An x-ray showed the left artery had been severed. Dr. Troy Dawson inserted two chest tubes.

In the meantime, his parents arrived at AMH. Jesse said his family was told to "say their goodbyes" before he was lifeflighted to Omaha.

"Everyone thought I was going to die there. They didn't know what I was signing up for once I got on the helicopter," Jesse said.

An University of Nebraska Medical Center team performed a sternotomy, giving access to the affected area.

He spent 15 days at UNMC and, during that time, a second surgery was required. A stent was placed in the second artery that was struck. He was so weak, he needed to relearn how to walk.

Once he returned home, Jesse went to school "part days." He'd spend the half with Grandma Jeannette Thiele. The next year, he returned to youth sports, adding wrestling.

"I finally felt like I was recovered. There wasn't much pain, just some sensitivity," he said.

Jesse said he felt the accident drew the family closer.

The first time he spoke with his parents, he pointed at letters on a notebook Page to communicate, since a tube was still inserted in his throat. His brothers and sister could not see him for several days after the surgery.

"They were crying and it hit them pretty hard," Jesse said.

He made an annual visit with doctors until Summer 2022, when physicians gave him final clearance to "live life."

During the incident, Thiele required 10 units of blood.

On Tuesday, May 28, a blood drive will be held, in Orchard, in Thiele's honor. The event will be at St. Peter's Lutheran Church Fellowship Hall, from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

When he turned 16, he heard about a blood drive in Ewing, sponsored by a Summerland School organization.

"I remember my brother Eli donated once and got out of cross country practice. I was like, 'Heck, I want to get out of wrestling practice,' so I donated," Jesse said, while chuckling.

Once he downloaded the Red Cross app on his phone, he knew donating blood was the right decision.

"It told me my blood went to this hospital and I was like wow. I realized people had donated a bunch of blood to the areas where I got blood. I can see it does make a difference," Jesse said.

Since the initial donation, he's donated seven units, including two doubles.

"I'm trying to do it as often as I can. I plan to do it when I get to college. People may think it's inconvenient at times, but they (Red Cross) make it as convenient as they can," he said.

Thiele said most people don't realize the impact donating blood makes.

"It can save someone's life. It's just tremendous. I was fortunate enough to get that," he said.

Read the second part of the story at https://www.summerlandadvocate.com/story/2024/05/22/news/in-gods-hands/6210.html