Heart attack survivor returns to complete degree begun decades ago

At the age of 53, Tim Rehn took a second chance at his bachelor’s degree after a second chance at life. He returned to Minnesota State Moorhead to complete a degree he had left behind decades earlier—just months after surviving a near-fatal heart attack.

Rehn first attended Minnesota State Moorhead to study psychology, after earning his associate’s degree from Willmar Community College (now Ridgewater College) in 1989. Just a few credits short of graduation, he withdrew in 1991 to move to Bismarck, N.D., where his fiancée had accepted a job. From there, children, a move to Grand Forks, N.D., and a rewarding career with Border States composed much of his life.

BA in Psychology

“A background in psychology helped me problem solve challenging projects at work,” he says. “It served me well in interacting with customers, to listen to not just their words, but their body language. I was able to diffuse conflicts and make progress.”

Rehn thrived as a successful salesman with the company for 28 years, which allowed him the opportunity to retire at the age of 53.

On Dec. 10, 2023, while playing hockey in an adult recreational league, Rehn had a heart attack. His heart stopped and a first responder watching the game ran to the ice and started chest compressions. An automated external defibrillator (AED) was attached to Rehn and delivered two shocks before his heart started up again. He was transferred by ambulance to a hospital in St. Cloud, where doctors inserted four stents to open blood flow. One of the arteries that was reopened is known as the “widow maker,” with a survival rate of just 12% if blocked while outside a medical facility.

In the months that followed, Rehn began a cardiac rehabilitation program and learned he had very little permanent damage. Facing a future he nearly didn’t have, he reevaluated his priorities and goals, realizing that he had always wanted to finish his degree at MSUM.

“I asked myself, ‘What is it that I still want to do? What if I could make a difference somehow?’,” he says.

In Rehn’s hometown of Willmar, like in many communities across the country, there’s a shortage of teachers and substitute teachers. “I discovered I could help, if I had a four-year degree. I could use a degree to contribute to something I care deeply about – investing in kids.”

Backed by the MSUM Psychology Department, Rehn requested he be allowed to complete the degree under the parameters of its 1991 catalog. It was approved and he took the last courses of his degree in the summer of 2024, finally earning that degree he started decades earlier.

Rehn is the primary lifeguard at the Willmar Middle School pool, so that swimming can be a crucial part of the physical education curriculum. Having recently been saved by a trained rescuer, Rehn says he has saved several children from emergency situations in the water.

He looks forward to substitute teaching in the Willmar school district soon.

I am so thankful that the university welcomed me back, allowing me to finish,” Rehn says. “I returned to Moorhead because I felt very encouraged within the psychology department. I wish there was a way to thank my professors from back then, to tell them I did graduate and that I have a second chance at life and to give back to my community.”