It's been a brutal night, but with a happy ending for now. When the doctors got a look at Tani's MRI, they initially ruled that there was severe enough nerve damage that he should not play football again.
That's when I got the call from his dad. We were all in shock. He got the call from the hospital, where Lela and Chris first got the news. Tani was in a daze (medicated) and I don't know if he was aware of anything. Drake said Chris was in tears. And he strengthened me while I was struggling with the notion that Tani's future in sports was suddenly over.
"God has a plan. I know it sounds cold to some people, but I always say, everything happens for a reason. God has a plan."
I was in shock for the next few hours, wracking my brain over how things could've been different if I'd pulled Tani out of the game just one moment earlier. I still am. But when Drake called back a few hours later, around 3:00 am, he said another doctor — a specialist — there at Queen's got a look at the MRI and determined that the damage was not severe. Tani will have to see his doctor later, but his football career is not over.
When Drake told me this, I felt like I was dreaming all this. A nightmare, really. Still feels like it now. Like I'll wake up in a few hours and all of this never happened. But I'm grateful that Tani is going to have his football career (it seems) after getting proper rest and healing for his neck/spine.
All that matters is that he's going to be OK and hopefully back to normal in whatever amount of time necessary. Tani is at home with his family, resting. His day had begun so well, with work in the morning, then a huge performance in a 7-on-7 scrimmage against Pac-Five (10 catches, 5 TDs). Then a scary night with the injury at the basketball league. Ambulance. Hospital.
It all could've been so different, in a split second, during that play when he dove for the ball out of bounds. Everything is so, so fragile. Thank God things are looking completely better.
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