Andover native Chris Watson wins NCAA wrestling title with massive blood clot

By the time the NCAA Division II wrestling tournament rolled around last month, Chris Watson knew something was wrong.

The Central Oklahoma senior and 165-pounder couldn’t brush his teeth for 10 seconds without his right arm getting tired. In matches, he would lose the ability to grip with his right hand.

“I figured it was a torn biceps, maybe something with my rotator cuff,” said Watson, a two-time state champion at Andover Central. “I just told myself I could sit out or suck it up and wrestle.”

Watson chose to suck it up, traveling to St. Louis for the national tournament. Once there, he did what he’d been doing all year (albeit with one arm), outscoring opponents 29-4 in four matches on the way to winning the 165-pound national title with a 7-2 win over Lake Erie’s Matt Vandermeer in the finals on March 14.

For his undefeated season — Watson went 42-0 and finished his career as a three-time All-American — he was named the NCAA Division II Wrestler of the Year.

It would all pale in comparison to what doctors would find in his arm and chest several weeks later.

“There was a massive blood clot, starting in his shoulder and moving horizontally across his chest about eight inches long,” said Watson’s father, Dean. “Took a knee at practice or something and just kept wrestling. In this case, I guess ignorance was bliss.

“It’s something I’m still trying hard to understand, actually, because it could’ve been a lot worse.”

Home for spring break the weekend after winning the national title, Dean caught a glimpse of Chris from the side and noticed that his right arm looked almost double the size of his left arm and told him to get it checked out. When a trainer at UCO looked at Chris’ arm the next day, he sent him in for an ultrasound.

“Things started to move pretty fast after that,” Chris said. “Pretty soon I was talking to a cardiologist and pretty soon after that I was getting ready for surgery.”

Diagnosed on March 24, Chris underwent two surgeries in a three-day span to remove the clot. The first, going in through his elbow, cleared about 10 percent of the clot. Doctors told the family that there was the potential of losing all ability to use the right arm, or, in the worst-case scenario, having to lose the arm itself.

Another, more invasive surgery was planned — this time going in through the femoral artery to try to remove all of the blood clot.

“This wasn’t (a surgery) they’d tried a lot of times, so there were like three doctors and 10 nurses in the operating room when they rolled me in,” Chris said. “I think I was the youngest person in that unit by about five decades.”

Before surgery, the doctors remarked that they had a national champion wrestler on the operating table.

“I think it tripped them out a little bit,” Chris said. “At any point it could’ve went to my heart or lungs or brain and turned into a pretty unfortunate, tragic circumstance.”

So why didn’t it?

“I asked the doctors that several times,” Dean Watson said. “I asked them to help me understand what we were dealing with. All they would say is that Chris is very lucky.”

The second surgery removed 100 percent of the blood clot — Dean, Chris’ mother Susan and UCO coach David James were all pulled into a private waiting room before they were given the good news after the surgery.

“I was trying to gauge people’s reactions all day, about how doctors would approach them if it was good or bad,” Dean said. “So when we went into this room, all we see is Bibles and crucifixes and religious literature and we all started freaking out a little bit. Mom’s crying, coach is crying, I’m pacing back and forth like a madman probably making a bad situation worse.

“Then the doctor comes in and tells us it’s a complete success. The look on his face you could tell right away that it went good.”

Chris, who finished his career at UCO 130-28 to rank sixth on the school’s career wins list, will be on blood thinners for up to six months and is on his way to a full recovery. A four-time Academic All-American, he’ll leave UCO this spring with degrees in marketing and business finance.

“A lot of this year had to do with my entire time at (Central Oklahoma), about finally getting to the top of the podium after finishing second when I was a junior,” Chris said. “We’re all pretty thankful for how my season went ... and now we’re all thankful that I’m going to be OK after everything that happened.”

This story was originally published April 7, 2015 at 11:59 AM with the headline "Andover native Chris Watson wins NCAA wrestling title with massive blood clot."