With a temperature of 106.7 degrees, a heart rate of 146 beats per minute and the staff at Crittenton Hospital asking him if he wanted a member of the clergy to come to his bedside, Oakland University men's basketball coach Greg Kampe knew he was in trouble.

“A lot of things go through your mind, some of which I don’t want to talk about,’’ Kampe said in his office Wednesday afternoon. “They were yelling rapid response and I knew it was for the room I was in.’’

Kampe, 61, entering his 34th year as Oakland's coach, was suffering from a severe case of sepsis last month. The disease can lead to septic shock, which is a medical emergency.

There are more than 1 million cases of sepsis each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The infection kills more than 258,000 Americans a year.

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"I don’t know if this is true or not, but they told me 80% of the people in my age group who get it die from it,’’ said Kampe. “They saved my life. When I had the temperature of 106.7, they poured ice over me until they got my temperature down.

“I’m not telling my story because I want people to feel sorry for me. In fact, a lot of coaches probably will use it against me in recruiting. I think it’s worthwhile. I just think it’s important for (people) to know, if they think something is wrong, you need to go to the hospital. Hopefully, a few people will read this. ... Sepsis is a bad deal."

Putting it off may have caused Kampe’s issues.

He was in ICU from July 16-20 and finally was released on July 21. A week later, he had his final surgery.

In what ended up being three surgeries total, six infected kidney stones were removed from his body, which were causing poison to run through his bloodstream. He had a fever and high heart rate.

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Eventually, a stent was removed from his back on Aug. 1 and the longtime OU coach is expected to be at 100% in 10 days or so, more than enough time before college basketball practice starts.

“I just thought about what a tremendous season we could potentially have,’’ Kampe said while in ICU.

OU is the defending Horizon League regular-season champion.

“A lot of people didn’t know about it,’’ he said. “Recently, Jalen Hayes (senior forward) got hit in the eye during a pickup game and had to go to the same hospital to get four stitches. I went to see him and while I was there I shared with him and Xavier (Hill-Mais) what had happened.’’

Kampe had kidney stones before, but this series of events started during the team’s National Invitation Tournament run in March.

“The night we beat Clemson, on the flight back, as joyful as it was to have won the game, it was very painful,’’ he said.

The next morning in his office, members of his staff told him to go to emergency room because of the pain. Three hours later he was having surgery. They couldn’t get the kidney stone out, but they inserted a stent.

The team lost to Richmond in the NIT and he had surgery a week later. This time, they got the stone out. However, they found a huge stone that was lodged in his kidney. They left the stent in Kampe so he could urinate.

“It was very painful and uncomfortable,’’ he said.

He had the stent in for four months while on medication to dissolve the stone.

At the end of June, they made the decision to operate.

“My mistake was the July recruiting was starting,’’ said Kampe. He put it off until the end of July.

He went to the Peach Jam tournament in Georgia in July and started feeling ill. The gym was an ice box because of the heat outside.

Despite getting sicker, he went to the Under Armour tournament in Atlanta. That Saturday morning, Dan Hipsher, his assistant coach, asked, “What’s wrong with you?”

He was dry heaving and couldn’t stand up.

He went to the bathroom and returned.

Hipsher told him: “Your face is completely yellow.’’

Kampe drove to the airport and was laying in the fetal position on the tarmac near his gate.

“It was a Southwest flight so they let me get on early,’’ he said.

When he got home, he started shivering despite the high temperature.

“I got into my hot tub; I was cold, but it was hot,’’ he said. “I got into the 104-degree temperature water and I’m sitting in that water and I’m still shaking. I knew this wasn’t the stent.’’

He finally went to the hospital.

Since the life-threatening situation, Kampe has dropped 25 pounds and sworn off food from the local 7-Eleven.

“I know I have to change my diet,’’ he said.

But not his coaching demeanor.

“I’ll still be the same on the sideline,’’ he said.

Contact Perry A. Farrell: pafarrell@freepress.com.

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