Peterson overcomes serious health scare to become a KHP trooper

Michael Peterson has quite a story to tell.

It is one of adversity, determination, and – by his own admittance – a degree of stubbornness.

The adversity can be measured by a single factor: near-death.

Stubbornness has always been part of his mindset.

Determination... well, that's just who Mike Peterson is.

Peterson grew up in Concordia and graduated from Concordia High School in 1998. He graduated from Cloud County Community College in 2000 and then earned a degree in Fisheries and Wildlife Biology from Kansas State University in 2003.

Peterson spent the next 15 years working as a game warden for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP). By 2022 he was supervising five other game wardens in a 10-county block in north central Kansas.

From 2015 until 2021, Peterson also worked part-time as a deputy with the Cloud County Sheriff's Department, and was a part-time cop in Concordia from 2021-22.

And then, at the age of 43... Michael Peterson walked away from it all to join the Kansas Highway Patrol (KHP).

“There were a lot of reasons, but I guess you could just say I wanted a change,” Peterson said. “A different focus. I wanted to work more in crime-related things. I wanted to help people.”

Interestingly enough, being a cop was not a dream since childhood. “Never even considered it – far from it,” Peterson said with a laugh. “In my younger days, I remember getting pulled over by Vince Crough and warned a couple times.”

As an LEO (law enforcement officer), Peterson would bring a lot of experience to the KHP, but he'd be treated like any other new recruit. To start: months of training at the KHP Academy in Salina, on the site of the old Marymount College. Peterson would be at least 20 years older than most of the other recruits.

His wife, Angie, was supportive of it all. “At first she kind of had to wrap her head around it,” Peterson said. “But she was always there for me.”

The application process itself took months, including PT (physical fitness testing). “It's tough,” Peterson said. “It's based on U.S. Army testing.”

Peterson was several months into the application process, and then, after a physical fitness test... the unthinkable happened. “I was home, it was March 9, 2022, and I just didn't feel good at all. I was having trouble breathing, and then I started having chest pains. I remember it was snowing out – I think Concordia got eight or nine inches that night. At about 1:30 in the morning I finally called my parents and I told them I needed to go to the emergency room.”

Within a short time of arriving at the hospital, Peterson got the shock of his life. At the age of 43, in peak physical condition... he was having a massive heart attack.

“I was in the ER, and I heard one of the staff in the hallway on their phone say, 'You've got to get here! This guy is going to die!' Right then and there I knew I was in big trouble.”

Peterson needed immediate transport to the Salina Regional Medical Center. In a blizzard. “They called the highway department to see if the ambulance could get a snow plow to clear the highway. There was a truck out, but it needed to return to base camp and refuel. And I guess we couldn't wait that long. I knew the guys driving the ambulance, so I was cracking jokes for a little bit. But then they realized how serious it was.”

Once Peterson was at the hospital in Salina, the full extent of his plight became clear.

He truly was dying.

His left anterior descending artery – the widow maker - was 99% blocked.

A cardiologist was called in. “He basically told me I didn't have much time left,” Peterson said. “They had to get a stent in there or my heart wasn't going to make it.”

Peterson was in ICU for five days. It was touch and go. “You think about a lot of things. It changes you. When you go through something like that it isn't just physical. There are emotional side effects , too.”

After he was released from the hospital, Peterson endured months of therapy. Slowly but surely he got his strength back, and that's what he wanted. Because he had an idea in mind.

After a life-altering event like a near-fatal heart attack, many people re-evaluate their lives and slow everything down. A more sedentary lifestyle becomes the norm.

Not Michael Peterson. He was going to re-enroll in the KHP.

“To me, the KHP are the best of the best in the state of Kansas, and I was going to be a trooper,” Peterson said. “I was going to finish what I started.”

Determination.

Stubbornness.

A will to overcome adversity.

Within six months of his heart attack, Peterson reapplied to the KHP. He had to start at the very beginning again. “The application process is about three months long. I had to do it all again: the psyche evaluations, the testing, the physical testing. They had a doctor standing by when I went through all the PT training.”

Ten months after his heart attack, Peterson was accepted into the KHP Academy. He began his 23 weeks of training on January 4, 2023. “It really was just like a boot camp. We lived in dorms. I had a roommate. We got to go home on weekends, but it was tough.”

Peterson was definitely the “old man” of the class. “Most of the other guys were around 21, 22 years old. But they found out this old man could compete with all of them. There for about seven weeks, I was at the top of the leaderboard in the PT training.”

On June 7, 2023, Trooper Michael Peterson graduated from the Kansas Highway Patrol Training Academy. “I invited all the doctors and medical personnel who had taken care of me to the graduation. My cardiologist came. He's world-renowned, but he took the time to come, and that meant a lot to me. We both had a tear in our eyes.”

Peterson is now partnered with a senior officer for on-the-job training for 77 days. “This is where the real training is, out on the road,” Peterson said. “They can teach you in the classroom and in simulations, but it's a lot different when you're actually doing it.”

Peterson is proud of what he's accomplished and overcome and has no regrets. “A lot of people think I'm nuts. Sometimes I think I'm nuts. But I wanted a new challenge, and I wanted to provide a better life for my family. And had I not made the change to KHP, I would've still been a game warden. I could have just been driving down some backroad somewhere when this thing hit, and just died on the spot. Making this change saved my life.”

Peterson works out five days a week, running between 10-12 miles, lifting weights, doing push-ups, sit-ups, and planks. “I feel great. I've started training for a half-marathon in Salina. It's a new beginning for me. A new life, a new job. I spend as much time as I can with my family, and just try to live the dream.”