\u2018A higher purpose\u2019<\/p>\n
One meet-and-greet this October stood out to Guentzel\u2014Levi Stock is a 15-year-old boy from Valrico who was struck by lightning while boating with his family four years ago in June. His father, Derek, performed CPR before first responders arrived to save his life and now educates on the importance of CPR.<\/p>\n
Levi spent three days in the hospital but made a full recovery and now enjoys participating in sports. The Stock family have been Lightning fans since moving to the area from Wisconsin in 2009, and the incident has inspired Derek to get involved with the American Heart Association as a CPR advocate.<\/p>\n
“It’s like a bunch of little mini nightmares,\u201d Derek remembers of the incident. “On a personal level, I went through a little bit of PTSD, like, \u2018What if I wasn’t watching?\u2019 I was sitting by the steering wheel trying to get to the ramp, and he’s standing on the front with a rope\u2026I saw him, and it was just like a knockout fight. He was stiff as a board and fell in the water. I jumped in after him\u2026It was like a scary movie where people are floating down in the abyss, but I was able to get to him in the dark river.\u201d<\/p>\n
Guentzel still thinks of his interaction with the Stock family and the amazement he felt hearing their story after the Oct. 23 Lightning game against the Chicago Blackhawks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI met one kid who was struck by lightning and his heart stopped for a while when they were on a boat. I met him earlier this year, and that one was really something I won’t forget because that was a pretty tragic moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Derek Stock said the interaction was \u2018amazing\u2019 for his family.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou always see him on TV flying around, making the big plays,\u201d Derek said of Guentzel. “But I always personally appreciate it when they see a higher purpose in the value of their role. You could tell he was passionate about heart health and wanting to reach the community that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moments after an NHL game, emotions often run high. The energy from that night\u2019s game continues to flow postgame, and final results can sometimes be hard to stomach.<\/p>\n
And yet, walking into a room of people affected by heart health finds a way to center Guentzel, inspiring him to continue giving back.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s humbling what these kids go through, what these people go through, and their families have been through a lot and put through some tough situations. It puts life into perspective,\u201d he said. \u201cThese kids, they’re fighters, and they do whatever it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Guentzel has always been passionate about helping those affected by congenital heart defects, and that won\u2019t change anytime soon.<\/p>\n
The player ticket program in Tampa allows Guentzel to continue that mission while also honoring his family and reminding people that they are never alone.<\/p>\n
He doesn\u2019t take that opportunity for granted and often thinks of the man who inspired him from a young age, his grandfather.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ve lost a family member through our situations and a guy that was around our family a lot,\u201d the Lightning forward said. \u201cIt was tough on our family, so whenever you can do something that reminds you of your grandpa, it’s pretty special for all of us and especially for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Note: This story is part of a series highlighting Tampa Bay\u2019s player ticket program, in which Lightning players donate tickets to those affiliated with area nonprofits each season through the Lightning Foundation as a way to recognize them for their contributions to the community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018A higher purpose\u2019 One meet-and-greet this October stood out to Guentzel\u2014Levi Stock is a 15-year-old boy from Valrico…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196658,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-196657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}