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February 21, 2000
Learning Channel to profile the death, life of Ward KrenzBy TONY ZIEBOL Journal Staff Writer CLEAR LAKE, Iowa -- It's been almost seven years since Ward Krenz died, and the snowmobile accident that left him submerged for an hour in the icy waters of Clear Lake, Iowa still attracts national attention. The Learning Channel (Time-Warner Channel 17 in New Ulm) will broadcast the Sleepy Eye native's story on a program at 8 p.m. Feb. 29. Krenz, amazingly, will be among those watching. According to Krenz, the program profiles three people who, like him, were successfully resuscitated after cold water accidents had left them clinically dead. It would be hard to believe two two people could have as extraordinary a story to tell as Krenz, now 38. On the night of March 21, 1993, in a blinding snowstorm, Krenz plunged his snowmobile into the icy waters of Clear Lake after losing sight of his two fellow snowmobilers. His friends tried to rescue him but couldn't reach him. By the time rescuers got to Krenz, he had spent an hour submerged under water. He was not breathing, had no heartbeat and by all definitions, was clinically dead. After being rushed to nearby St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, the doctors measured Krenz's body temperature at an alarming 74 degrees. There was little chance of reviving him, but they chose to try, hooking him up to a cardiopulmonary bypass machine -- normally used in open-heart surgery and the first time attempted in this way -- to warm his blood. In about an hour, Krenz started to show some life and his heart was well enough to restart. As far as he knows, he still owns the mark in the Guinness Book of Records for the longest time spent under water and surviving. Today, Krenz still suffers from short-term memory loss and has no recollection of the accident and certain periods of time before and after it. He was pulled out of the water with a hook, which damaged some nerves and caused him to go through three months of rehabilitation to improve his damaged hands. Krenz, who currently is a customer service representative for I & M Rail Link in Mason City, Iowa, can now to limited things with his hands, but has no feeling in the tips of some of his fingers. Despite these limitations, Krenz is just happy to be alive. "I take life a little more seriously than I used to," he said. "I got a second chance (at life)." While in the hospital, he received cards from well-wishers all over the country, including several from kids in classrooms. "It was kind of an inspiration," Krenz said. "(Getting cards from the kids) was kinda neat. All the people really touched me." The interest of television stations and magazines quickly followed. Krenz appeared on the Maury Povich show on KARE-TV, was featured in the National Enquirer and medical journals, and his story appeared in newspapers all over the country, including USA Today. Recently, a California man called Krenz and is going to try and sell his story to a TV or film producer. For the Learning Channel show, he was contacted in July of last year and a crew of six people spent two days in September in Clear Lake. They not only interview Krenz, but his doctors, the ambulance crews and rescue squad who responded to his accident, and even the person who called 911 after hearing Krenz call for help. "I think this (show's) going to be good," said Krenz, who has a rough tape of the show at his home. "This one's a lot better than like a talk show. It explains how I survived and there's things in it I didn't even know." Even with all this publicity, Krenz knows not take it or anything else for granted. In the years after the accident, he still has driven snowmobiles, but currently doesn't own one. "It was fun to have for a while, but I don't think I'll buy one (again)," Krenz said. "The excitement is kind of over. But getting on one doesn't really bother me."
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