A Blaine resident diagnosed with heart failure at age 28 plans to return to the Porcupine Mountains in 2026 for a snowmobiling trip he takes each year with friends.
For that resident, Spencer Peka, the trip almost never would have happened.
Peka said that during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, he began having increasing difficulty catching his breath. While at his family cabin north of Askov over Memorial Day weekend that year, he noticed trouble breathing, though not enough to raise concerns…