Colin Peck, of Orland Park, recalls the last time he saw his brother Brian, who died from cardiac arrest in 2019.
Brian Peck, 20, was home for Thanksgiving break from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The day he was to return to campus, Colin Peck, who was still in high school, woke up early for school and hesitated over whether to wake his brother to say goodbye.
“I wanted to give him a hug before I left. And I was unsure if I wanted to or not, because he was sleeping and I was in a rush, but I decided very last minute, impulsively, just to go in and wake him up and give him a hug,” Colin said.
Less than a month later, Brian Peck died in his dorm room from an undiagnosed arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeat, that caused sudden cardiac arrest.
“It was very sudden. He was very healthy at the time, and we had no idea what happened at first, there were no explanations for it,” Colin said.
Brian, a college junior, was studying biomedical engineering and computer science. His mother, Karen Peck, said he planned to intern at Medtronic, a medical device company headquartered in Minneapolis.
“My son had just found out he was going to be a biomedical engineering intern at Medtronic, he literally posted it on LinkedIn right after midnight the day that he passed away,” she said. “He was on top of the world excited. It was what he wanted. It was his dream internship.”
Following in his brother’s footsteps, Colin Peck, 21, studying computer engineering and computer science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, recently began a similar internship at Medtronic, working on technology that could have saved his brother’s life.
“Especially after his passing, I was just very determined to find a way to take my major already and apply it in a way that can improve the quality of life for other people,” Colin said.
Colin said he works on cardiac arrhythmia management devices at Medtronic, which are small, battery-powered devices surgically implanted into the body to monitor and control the heart’s rhythm. These devices are typically used to treat people with heart rhythm disorders and heart failure.
“It’s such a wonderful opportunity to not only help other people, but work in a field that could save lives just like Brian’s,” he said.
Colin also volunteered for EKG drives while attending Providence Catholic High School, which quickly check a person’s heartbeat and could have caught Brian’s arrhythmia and saved his life, Colin said.
From a young age, Colin said he and his brother were interested in technology, constantly playing games together and learning about computers. One year, Colin said his brother bought him a beginner circuit board building kit for his birthday. Despite a four-year age gap, the two were close, and Colin said his brother was a friend and mentor.
Colin reflected on a conversation they had the night before Brian returned to campus.
“For some reason, we went on a ride together and we stayed up really late talking about, like technology and the future and where we see ourselves,” he said.
After Colin finishes his degrees in computer science and engineering in December 2025, he said he could see himself working full-time at Medtronic. If that opportunity does not arise, he said he hopes to work somewhere where “I can not only utilize my experience in a good way, but also be able to apply it to make a difference.”
smoilanen@chicagotribune.com