LYNN – Kevin Chasse was playing basketball with a friend at the YMCA in November 2013. He worked up a good sweat and, just as he had countless times before, pulled off his T-shirt to cool down. Bright red rings covered his entire back. Chasse was bothered by the revelation, but hadn?t the slightest idea he was in for a very long week.In a world where far too much is taken for granted, Chasse?s encounter with sickness reminds friends and family to never take a day for granted.?I was perfectly healthy,” said Chasse. “Then I had these weird rings on my back, and my breathing was off, too.”The 16-year-old Chasse, who is now a junior at Lynn Classical, ran cross country for the Rams and was bitten by a tick while running with teammates earlier that fall in Lynn Woods. The bite caused Lyme disease, which migrated to Chasse?s heart. The Lyme disease caused second-degree heart block, and he began suffering from an irregular heartbeat.Chasse initially held off on a trip to his doctor?s office, as he had an exam at school the following morning. But the Lyme was having its way with Chasse, so his parents pulled him from school and brought him straight to his doctor.?The doctor was going to put Kevin on the antibiotic for the Lyme disease,” said Kristin Chasse, Kevin?s mother. Yet the mother?s sixth sense kicked in – mother?s intuition, if you will – and she asked the doctor for one more test.?I said, ?Can you check his heart??” said Kristin. “I don?t know why I said that, but I did. I knew the minute he put the stethoscope on there was a problem. The doctor checked his heart, and then said Kevin needed to get to the hospital right away.”Chasse?s illness escalated quickly, but he was in good hands at Floating Hospital for Children in Boston. If the disease had not been caught, doctors explained, Chasse?s heart could not have dealt with the stress much longer.?He was put on a PICC line (a peripherally inserted central catheter, a form of intravenous access that can be used for a prolonged period of time) so the medicine went right into his heart,” said Kristin. “Within two days, the medicine had disseminated and his entire body was covered in hundreds of red rings. That?s when it got real scary.?He had a high fever and rings all over his body. He couldn?t do anything to raise his heart (rate). He just needed to lay there.”Chasse, who was 15 at the time, was frightened by his condition.When the doctor said Lyme had gone into his heart, Chasse asked, “I?m not going to die, am I?”?I said, ?No, you?re not,?” said Kristin. “We weren?t going there. That wasn?t an option.?But it was the scariest, worst time of our lives. A lot of people get Lyme disease, but it very rarely goes into the heart.”Chasse stayed in the hospital four nights. As he lay in his hospital bed, void of energy, all he could do was think.?I was just focused on the swim season, which was two weeks away,” said Chasse. “I was real nervous I couldn?t swim. I just wanted to go home with my family and get ready for swimming.”Lyme disease soon realized it did not stand a chance against Chasse?s heart.Chasse never complained, as he had the clairvoyance to know he would be back in the pool in no time.?I knew I?d get through it,” he said. “I trusted my doctors, and my family helped me get through it,” said Chasse, who is close with his older brother, 20-year-old Daniel, whose support helped him tremendously. “I was pretty scared the first two days, then I just wanted it over with.”?He was itching to get out of there and have a good meal at home,” said his father, Russ. Along with the friends who visited him at the hospital, Chasse was also greeted at his door upon returning by 15 of his female classmates. He couldn?t have been happier.?I just wanted to go home and see my friends,” said Chasse. “And I needed to get ready for swim season.”After three more weeks of antibiotics, Chasse received clearance from the doctors. Back to the pool he went.?Kevin joined our program when he was a fres