Heart and soul: Stevenson plays role in Hawks’ turnaround after surviving near-death experience

QUINCY — Initially, Taya Stevenson tried to ignore everyone’s urging.

Late last spring, just before the Quincy University women’s basketball players headed into their semester finals, Stevenson couldn’t get herself physically or mentally right. She randomly passed out and was treated in Blessing Hospital’s emergency room, yet continued to feel something was amiss. Doctors couldn’t see or determine what it was.

“I was not doing so well,” Stevenson said. “But I was very much like, ‘I’ll be OK. I’m good. I’ll deal with it.’”

Such stubbornness didn’t surprise her family.

“Typical Taya,” said her mother, Kim Stevenson. “No fuss. No attention.”

However, Quincy coach Courtney Boyd, herself the mother of two young girls, and the rest of the coaching staff refused to watch Stevenson suffer. They urged the senior guard to seek treatment, pretty much demanding it before Stevenson relented and returned to Blessing Hospital.

“I’m very appreciative the coaches did that,” Stevenson said. “I’m very stubborn. I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t make an issue of it, but I checked back into the hospital.”

That decision may have saved her life.

While in the emergency room, Stevenson’s heart quit beating. She flat-lined and needed to be resuscitated, her heart regaining its beat and its rhythm after only a handful of seconds where she leaned on the verge of death. 

“I woke up and I had the shock pads on me,” Stevenson said. “And there were like 20 different people in the room. That was unique, but I’m not sure I knew all that was happening. When I woke up, I was a little bit out of it. I felt a little off.”

Reality hit home shortly thereafter.

“At the time, I didn’t think it was too scary,” Stevenson said. “At the time, I don’t think it sunk in how serious it was. When I was there a couple nights in the hospital, it was a little scarier. That’s when I fully realized my heart had stopped.”

That’s when the road back to normal began.

‘Technology helps so much’

Stevenson dreamed of playing basketball at the highest level possible, which meant leaving her home in Tasmania, Australia, for an opportunity in the United States. It’s how she ended up at Northern Michigan in 2020.

“I thought, ‘If I have the opportunity to go further, why not do that? Why not take that opportunity?’” Stevenson said. “I’m the type of person who likes to make the most of my experiences when I can. So I had a recruiting agency help me out and spread my film to a bunch of different coaches around the U.S. 

“I talked to a bunch of different coaches and found one I really liked at the time. I thought, ‘If I go and I don’t like it after a year, I can stay home after that.’ I ended up loving it and never leaving.”

That was despite a less-than-ideal start to her journey. Stevenson traveled from Australia to Michigan during the COVID-19 pandemic, which meant making her initial trip overseas by herself.

“I was expecting my parents to come with me and help me settle in,” Stevenson said. “That didn’t happen. Because of COVID, they couldn’t travel, so it was me by myself when I got here.”

It also meant two weeks of quarantine once she arrived.

“It was really hard seeing her go,” said her mother, Kim. “Coming from Tasmania, where we didn’t have COVID, it was hard to believe she had to quarantine and we couldn’t be there with her.”

Luckily, they had FaceTime, Zoom and other devices and apps to stay connected.

“Technology helps so much,” Stevenson said.

Still, it’s not the same.

“There are some things that you just wish were like, ‘Aw, I wish I could tell friends and family about this instantly,’” Stevenson said. “Sometimes you can’t even call them straight away, so you have to wait a little bit. But it helps having teammates around you who make you feel like family. That’s the part that helps and makes it easier.”

With such a short window of time off during the Christmas break, there isn’t the chance to go home for the holidays either.

“I’ve always had a bunch of people offer me the chance to go home with them and welcome me in,” Stevenson said.

That was the case at Northern Michigan and since she transferred to Quincy in 2023 as part of Boyd’s first recruiting class.

“It’s the people,” Stevenson said. “They make you feel special.”

Never was that more apparent than when her heart stopped.

‘It was an awful phone call to get’

Stevenson played in all 28 games for the Hawks during the 2023-24 season, averaging 20.9 minutes, 5.0 points and 3.3 rebounds. She was second on the team with 39 steals and went into the offseason expecting to be a key figure in the rotation for the following season as Quincy hoped to improve on a 10-win season.

However, before the semester ended, her health started to become a serious issue.

“It was a random week and I was passing out,” Stevenson said. “I went to the hospital, they gave me an IV and sent me on the way. But things continued to happen. I’d feel it a little bit sometimes and then just pass out.”

Eventually, her coaches stepped in.

“We talk about family a lot and how we want to be everyone’s family away from home,” Boyd said. “There’s nothing like your immediate family. There are things you want to share with your immediate family that you can’t with other people. So we try to be those stand-in people for her.”

In this case, they were the bridge that spanned a 17-hour and 9,500-mile gap between Quincy and Tasmania. That included having to call Stevenson’s parents to explain their daughter’s health situation.

“It was horrible,” Kim Stevenson said. “It was an awful phone call to get.”

It proved equally tough for Taya to get on the phone with her mom once she was stabilized.

“That was the worst part,” she said. “That was a phone call I didn’t want to make.”

But she knew it wouldn’t be long until her mom was by her side.

“There was nothing we could do from here,” Kim Stevenson said. “So I was getting on a plane and going. She didn’t want me to, but I was getting on that plane.”

In the meantime, Kim Stevenson and her husband, Murray, consulted with a friend who was a cardiologist to learn as much as they could about Taya’s condition and the road to a full recovery.

“She had a heart issue due to the COVD vaccine, so we already had her heart fully tested and knew it was good,” Kim Stevenson said. “The cardiologist informed us of that.”

Still, there were a barrage of tests to endure in hopes of figuring out what caused her heart to stop.

“There was nothing abnormal about the structure of my heart or anything like that,” Taya said. “They did a contrast MRI of my heart and there was a little bit of scarring so it looked like I had an infection in there at some point.”

In the end, doctors believe an issue with her back — she had surgery in September to repair a problem with it — caused the electrical impulse that shut down her heart.

“It was scary,” Kim Stevenson said. “But we believed she’d make it through just fine.”

There were plenty of hurdles still to clear. Once released from the hospital, Stevenson did not return to the dorms, instead staying with graduate assistant coach Skylar Culbertson so she could be looked after on a more regular basis.

She also had to finish navigating classes and taking final exams and figuring out housing for the summer since she was not going to be cleared to travel home.

“All of my professors were great about it,” Stevenson said. “So was (Christine Tracy, QU’s director of student development). Before I even knew I had to stay for the summer, she was like, ‘If you need to figure out housing, we will help.’ Everyone has been there for me and my family.”

It further endeared Stevenson to this school and this community.

“It meant I was in a safe area and I had people around me who would support me,” Stevenson said. “I wasn’t as stressed in that sense. You appreciate it at the time, but then you look back and you think, ‘I don’t know how I would have gotten through that time without those people around me.’”

Her parents are equally amazed and infinitely appreciative.

“That’s my girl and I knew she was in good hands,” Kim Stevenson said. “That eases a mother’s mind.”

So does knowing her daughter would make it back to the court.

‘She’s living her dream’

Stevenson’s heart condition limited her summer workout plans, and the need to have back surgery put her return to the court in peril. That put a wrinkle in the Hawks’ plans considering they were anticipating Stevenson playing a significant role.

Her determination and her drive wouldn’t allow such an opportunity to pass her by, even if it meant her role had changed.

“I enjoy every moment and I’m grateful for my teammates and the chances we have,” Stevenson said. “It’s less about how I’m doing or if I’m playing well and more about the team because I get to be part of the team and be involved. That’s more special to me than if I scored five or 10 points this game or that game. 

“Our team did great and we played well together. That’s what really matters.”

Boyd saw the change and the growth in Stevenson’s approach. Stevenson is averaging 3.2 points and 3.1 rebounds, but she’s drawn numerous charges and played incredible defense during the 22-win regular season that earned the Hawks the No. 3 seed in this weekend’s GLVC Tournament.

“She had the ins and the outs, the ups and the downs, the doctors and the surgeries, so many things,” Boyd said. “We didn’t know what was going to happen. But her ability to be diligent in her recovery was key. She told us she wanted to be a part of this team and she wanted to contribute. Once she was able to wrap her brain around how she could keep herself healthy and do that, then she’s done a tremendous job. 

“The things she brings to the table are way different than anybody else. No one is putting their body on the line that way every night. She’s not worried about putting points on the board. She’s worried about being in the right place at the right time for her teammates.”

Much like everyone was there for her when she needed it the most.

“I was running around through all of these obstacles,” Stevenson said. “But I knew someone always had my best interest at heart. That makes you feel special.”

It brings a tear to a mother’s eye, knowing her daughter is loved by the family she was born into and the family she found.

“Amazingly proud of her,” Kim Stevenson said. “She’s living her dream. It was her dream to get to America to play basketball, and she got it. It’s beautiful to see her happy and loving life.”