‘He’s won before kickoff’: Benilde senior’s journey from brain surgery to section final

FOOTBALL ACROSS MINNESOTA | Week 8

Owen Guertin tousled his hair to show a scar above his left ear. Only a few of his teammates on the Benilde-St. Margaret’s football team know the story behind that scar on his scalp.

“One thing I did like about switching to BSM in seventh grade is, I’m known for who I am and not the person who had a traumatic experience in fourth grade,” he said.

At age 9, Guertin underwent a 17-hour brain surgery to fix a rare condition called arteriovenous malformation (AVM). AVM is an abnormal tangle of blood vessels that can cause a brain bleed.

The first few days after surgery were like starting over. Guertin couldn’t walk without assistance. His vision was blurry. Communicating was hard because he knew the words he wanted to say, but they came out garbled.

An active kid who played multiple sports before surgery, Guertin worked tirelessly in his recovery to make up lost ground, never losing sight of his goal to one day play varsity sports.

And there he was Saturday, nearly eight years later, a senior cornerback making a leaping interception to help Benilde-St. Margaret’s advance to the Section 5 final in Class 4A with a 50-12 victory over DeLaSalle.

“It’s given me and my wife a perspective in terms of winners and losers on the scoreboard,” said Guertin’s dad, Chris. “It’s almost like he’s won before kickoff. He’s won just being out there. I don’t know how often he thinks about the surgery and how far he’s come, but the older I get, the more I think about it.”

Chris and his wife, Maria, sent their three children for brain scans after their 14-year-old niece Sawyer Woods died in 2016 from a brain bleed caused by an AVM. Woods was a high school freshman and had experienced no symptoms.

The scans for the Guertin’s two daughters came back clean. Owen’s scan revealed an AVM the size of a marble. Owen and Sawyer were cousins through a second marriage, making the link between their common diagnosis a “terrible coincidence,” Chris said.

The Guertins were given two treatment options: radiation or surgery. The parents chose surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital because of its highly regarded reputation in treating AVM cases.

Dr. Ed Smith, chair of neurosurgery at the hospital and professor at Harvard Medical School, made a connection with Owen through their mutual love of sports that helped comfort the family.

Smith’s devotion is such that he had limited internet connection last week while hiking the Himalayan Mountains in Nepal, but he responded to my email about Guertin’s case. Smith described it as a “very complicated arteriovenous malformation” and that Guertin had a “very successful multidisciplinary treatment of a very complicated lesion and has a wonderful family that did a great job helping him recover from his treatment.”

Guertin’s surgery spanned two days because of the complexity and time required, 17 hours.

His first memory post-surgery was watching Tom Brady engineer the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history as the New England Patriots stunned the Atlanta Falcons. He asked his dad to turn off the TV in his hospital room before the comeback was complete because his vision was still blurry, and the lights and sound made his head hurt even worse than it already did.

The family returned to the Twin Cities a few days after surgery to begin therapy. His parents were sticklers in this area. Chris’ mom had suffered two strokes in her life, including one at age 34 when she had four young kids at home. She never fully recovered because she put caring for her children ahead of her own needs.

Owen’s therapy became a family priority.

“He wasn’t feeling sorry for himself,” his dad said. “He knew it was hard. He knew he had been dealt both a good and a bad hand. For him, it was like a business.”

He attended hour-long physical, occupational and speech therapy sessions every week for months. Speech therapy focused on regaining short-term memory loss.

Sports were Guertin’s motivation to get through exhausting sessions. His long-term goal was to make a varsity sport. He has cleared that bar and then some.

Guertin played on Benilde-St. Margaret’s state championship lacrosse team this past season, and he also plays basketball.

He switched from flag football to tackle in ninth grade after getting clearance from his doctor. He wears a Q-Collar when he’s playing sports. The horseshoe-shaped device fits around the neck and helps to protect against brain injury. Guertin also is mindful to use his shoulders and not his head when making a tackle.

He is considering several options for college, including the possibility of playing both football and lacrosse at the Division III level.

His senior season in football continues Friday night against Holy Angels in the section championship, with the winner advancing to state. The scar above his left ear serves as an outward reminder of the obstacles he’s overcome to reach this game.

“I’ve gone through a little more than someone my age has,” he said. “But rather than be disappointed about it, I’m happy that I have a story to tell.”

. . .

LOVE OF THE GAME

John Campbell didn’t consider himself a talented athlete as a kid raised in Wadena. His best accomplishment, he joked to family members, was that he “managed to avoid serious injury.”

And yet Campbell turned a walk-on invitation with the Gophers into a decorated football career in which he earned all-Big Ten honors, played in two Rose Bowls, won a national championship in 1960 and got drafted by the Vikings.

A photo of Campbell, who died Oct. 21 at age 86, is displayed in the Gophers locker room alongside other former all-time greats in program history.

“He only wore one piece of jewelry, and it was his national championship ring,” Campbell’s son Matt said. “He is a true diehard Gopher fan. He is so proud of being a Gopher.”

Campbell enlisted in the Navy after graduating high school in 1956. His dad was a dentist in Wadena, so Campbell became a dental assistant in the Navy, thus setting up a punchline that used for many years after.

Asked about his role in protecting the United States, Campbell often answered: “I fought tooth decay.”

“It’s been an inside joke forever, and a joke he loved,” his son said. “It really sums my dad up with his sense of humor.”

Campbell used his time in the service to bulk up physically to the point that he played on the base football team that was scouted by coaches from Division I programs. Campbell earned scholarship offers from a few Southern schools, but he decided to walk on for the Gophers in 1959 after receiving his honorable discharge.

A two-way player at a tight end and defensive end, Campbell caught the eye of coach Murray Warmath in practice.

“The way he got noticed was he started a fight with their biggest, toughest player,” Matt said. “I said I don’t know if that would work today, but that was effective back then.”

Campbell was selected first-team All-Big Ten in 1962, then was drafted by the Vikings in the 11th round in 1963. Campbell had stints with the Vikings, Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Colts in his seven-year career.

Campbell had several different careers after retiring from football but found a calling as a police chaplain in Burnsville and Bloomington. He comforted grieving families after the Interstate 35W bridge collapse in 2007 and assisted police officers in delivering death notifications to victims’ relatives, which often included making home visits in the middle of the night.

“He had a great life full of great people,” Matt said. “He lived the American Dream that we would all sign up for if we could.”

. . .

WEEKEND REWIND

The five best things we saw on social media this weekend:

“It’s a copycat league. One team uses it, and it works. I don’t see why another team won’t do the same thing. A lot of the things we’ve seen the past two games, we’re probably going to see the rest of the year until we stop it.”

— Vikings cornerback Shaq Griffin on the Los Angeles Rams successfully employing a similar fast tempo that the Detroit Lions used effectively against the Vikings defense five days earlier.

. . .

UP NEXT

Andover vs. Elk River, 6 p.m. Friday, Elk River High. The Class 5A Section 7 championship comes down to two high-powered offenses. Andover averages 40 points per game; Elk River 48. Andover handed Elk River its only loss of the season 47-31 in September.

. . .

DAILY DELIVERY + FAM

Each week, my colleague Michael Rand and I will review a few FAM topics together and post our chat to YouTube. This week, we talked about Benilde-St. Margaret’s senior Owen Guertin and his remarkable journey from brain surgery to varsity athlete. Watch our video right here.

. . .

A FAM FINAL WORD

The Vikings suddenly have serious questions after starting the season 5-0. Standout left tackle Christian Darrisaw is lost for the rest of the season after suffering a knee injury, and the defense looked vulnerable in back-to-back losses. This is an important week for coach Kevin O’Connell and defensive coordinator Brian Flores to find answers to those pressing issues.

. . .

Thank you for reading Football Across Minnesota (FAM), my weekly column that tours football topics in our state from preps to pros. I’ll publish this column on Tuesday mornings. I appreciate feedback, so please reach out anytime. Thanks again — Chip (@chipscoggins on X; email me at anthony.scoggins@startribune.com)

. . .

Want more Football Across Minnesota? Chip’s previous columns are here: