Unity Christian’s Jake Chapman shows signs of improvement

Unity Christian’s Jake Chapman gets a water break during a football practice in August 2023. (Photo | Lenny Padilla).

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Jake Chapman remains in the hospital after a serious heart issue. But the family of the Unity Christian High School junior had some good news to share on Monday.

“Today was an epic day of answered prayers. Jake’s lungs were finally well enough for his team (of doctors) to remove the ventilator!” his mother Rachel Chapman shared on Facebook. “After 5 of the worst days of our lives, Jake is breathing on his own! What a beautiful sound that is. His first word was a very faint whisper, but he said ‘Mom.’ Our tears of fear and sadness became of tears of relief and joy.” 

Chapman, a 6-foot-5 football and basketball player for Unity Christian, collapsed on Sept. 28 after returning home from football practice. His father, Chad Chapman, performed CPR until paramedics arrived. 

“The next good news came just after the ventilator was removed and his physician came in to tell us the brain MRI was NORMAL!” Rachel Chapman continued. “God is so good. We give Him all the glory and we praise Him for the miracle that Jake is. We are so thankful. Jake still has a very long road of recovery. He’s obviously incredibly nauseated, weak, tired, groggy, confused, and his lungs have a ton of junk. He’ll be on oxygen for a while yet. But overall, he’s doing remarkably well.”

Chad Chapman said his son will have surgery later this week to insert a implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) into his heart.

“He will quite possibly rely on this for the rest of his life,” he said in a message to friends and family. “It basically is a device that will monitor and shock his hear if he would ever need it.”

Said Rachel Chapman: “We met with the pediatric cardiologist today to go over more about that. He assured us that although this will be a long recovery, Jake can still lead a full and active life with his ICD.”