This article was written by Mary Jo Herkenhoff Cosio
The seniors at Patrick Henry High School (PHHS) are fortunate that there are many awards and scholarships that are given to outstanding students. One is the “Kevin Herkenhoff Memorial Scholarship” that is given to two PHHS senior students that have committed to attending the University of MN. This is Kevin’s story and the history of the scholarship in his name.
Kevin, the son of Joan and Elmer Herkenhoff, was born on October 18, 1966. He was soon found to have a heart defect and spent several of his early months in the hospital. At the age of 3, he had surgery to repair the defect, but the conduction system in his heart was damaged during surgery. It was then that Kevin became the youngest person in the world to have a permanent pacemaker.
The battery pack was placed under his ribcage, in order to protect it. He was allowed to do anything, except contact sports. He led a very active life but was completely dependent upon the pacemaker, and the batteries back then didn’t last very long. He and his family never knew when the battery was going to die, until he would suddenly fall over and was found to have a heartbeat of only 30! He would be rushed to the hospital to get a new battery. With each new battery that was placed, the battery improved and lasted a little bit longer. To change the battery was major surgery and a big deal. The surgeons had to crack open his ribs again in order to gain access to the battery pack. At one point, he had a nuclear powered battery that put him on the radar of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission! When he tried to cross into Canada to go fishing with his dad, that became something of a problem. Because Kevin’s pacemaker, for many years, was set at 72 beats per minute, his heart size expanded greatly in order to compensate for his vigorous activities. It literally filled his chest. (The heart is a muscle, so when it is exercised, it grows in size.) While attending Patrick Henry HS, he was very focused on his studies and was part of the debate and speech teams. He was intent on going to the University of Minnesota so that he could improve his life.
He graduated from Henry High in 1985 and went to U of M-Duluth for two years. He transferred to the Minneapolis campus into the Carlson School of Business. He also worked at Honeywell, part-time and lived in an apartment in NE Minneapolis with many of his high school friends. In the fall of 1989, his senior year, he noticed a lump in his testicle, but was busy with work and school and didn’t do anything about it. In February 1990, he went to Health Services to get a physical because he was unsure if he’d be able to get health insurance once he graduated due to his heart condition. The lump in his testicle had grown and he was immediately referred to urology. A biopsy and surgery were done to remove the tumor. He was found to have testicular cancer that had spread throughout his abdomen. He began chemotherapy and continued to bike to classes but would often have to stop to vomit due to the effects of the chemo. He continued to work and graduated from the Carlson School of Management in the spring of 1990.
Chemotherapy continued and in July 1990 he had surgery to try to remove the other tumors. He had a cardiac arrest on the operating table. He was successfully revived, but the surgeons said there was nothing more that they could for him. He was referred to the U of Indiana because they specialized in testicular tumors. After attending one of his best friend’s wedding in November, he went to Indianapolis to have surgery. Many of his PHHS and college friends, during study week, drove to Indianapolis to see Kevin and to cheer him on the night before surgery. They stayed at the hospital, overnight and didn’t leave until the surgeon came out to tell them that the surgery had been successful. They all drove back to the U of M to take their finals.
Due to the chemotherapy, Kevin had become very debilitated and weak. In January 1991 he and his dad got memberships at a nearby workout facility. They would walk on the indoor track together. On February 11, after having done their walking work out, they entered the locker room. Kevin had a cardiac arrest. His dad, trained as an EMT, started CPR. Kevin was taken to North Memorial Hospital where they worked on reviving him for a long time, to no avail. He was 24 when he died.
Kevin’s death was a tragedy and devastating loss for his family, friends and for all that knew him. He had surmounted so many odds for so many years. No one could believe that he was gone. He was a kind and gentle soul, a good friend to everyone he met and was all about advancing his education by getting his degree.
In 1994 his dedicated friends, with the support of Kevin’s family, formed a nonprofit organization called Team FAR, to raise money to give scholarships to an outstanding PHHS senior, in memory of Kevin. It started out with a one time scholarship. But over the 10 years of Team FAR’s existence, the scholarships were increased to give money over four years. Team FAR held many fund raisers each year. In the summer of 2004, Frank Kara, Team FAR President, was made aware of an opportunity at the U of M. They wanted to increase the number of endowed scholarships. Each endowment that was started would receive matching funds from the U of M for each donation. Frank approached the family and they gave their blessing to turn over the funds from Team FAR.
In October 2004, the first annual fundraising walk occurred. Family and friends walked from PHHS to the U of M campus to turn over the money and the Kevin Herkenhoff Memorial Scholarship was born. The 18th Annual Walk to raise money for Kevin’s endowment just occurred on October 2. It is now given to two academically outstanding PHHS seniors who have committed to attending the U of M. This year, the scholarship was raised to $3,300/yr. and is renewable for four years as long as a GPA of 3.0 is maintained. The increased award has also been extended to all of Kevin’s scholarship recipients who are currently attending the U of M, no matter what year they are in. To date, more than 50 scholarships have been awarded.
This scholarship is a wonderful way to pay tribute to Kevin and his aspirations, and to support the outstanding students at PHHS. If you are interested in donating, contact his sister, Mary Jo (Herkenhoff) Cosio at mcosio@charter.net.