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http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football ... 63a66.html
By Jim Thomas
Michael Hay wasn't just stabbed within an inch of his life. Try one millimeter — or 4/100ths of an inch.
The knife wound, Hay said, "was a millimeter away from my aorta. My doctor said if he would have twisted it, or I would have moved differently, I would have bled to death on the street."
Hay, who lives in Queens, N.Y., was driving home from a day working construction with his father in the summer of 2007. As Hay pulled up to a stop sign, an acquaintance yelled out something at him. Hay yelled back. The next thing you know, they were both flailing away at each other on the street.
"It was like my friends and his friends didn't get along," Hay said. "And it was kind of right then-and-there, a spur of the moment fistfight. After the fistfight he pulled out (a knife) and stabbed me in the side."
The knife punctured Hay's stomach, went through his rib cage, punctured his diaphragm and caused a lung to collapse. He remembers going into surgery, and he remembers waking up intermittently after surgery and seeing his mother Maria at his side in the hospital.
But that was only half of the family nightmare that night. One time that night when he woke up, he noticed his mother wasn't there. He asked a nurse where she was and was told she had another family issue that had come up. Turns out Hay's younger brother Chris had been admitted to the same hospital 12 hours later after suffering a fractured orbital bone in a separate altercation.
As a result of his stab wounds, Hay was in intensive care for five days — in the hospital's pediatrics ward, no less, at 6-4, 285 pounds.
"There were a lot of dark nights in there," Hay said. "When I woke up I was kind of thinking why am I still here?"
As in, why am I still alive?
When he entered the hospital, Hay was just two weeks away from opening preseason camp as a freshman offensive lineman at the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University.
"Will I be good to go (for camp)?" Hay asked his surgeon.
"I don't know if you'll ever play again," the surgeon replied.
For someone still a couple of months away from his 18th birthday, someone who dreamed of playing in the NFL, it was a sobering wakeup call.
"I thought about it, and I said, 'What do I want to do?' " Hay said. "I want to work. I want to finish this dream out. That's when I started to change my whole outlook on life."
Physically, the doctors and nurses saved his life after the stabbing. Mentally and emotionally, Hay says it was football that saved his life.
"It pretty much kept me on track; kept me straight," Hay said.
He decided to keep playing after his discharge from the hospital, but first he had get his weight up after losing about 60 pounds during his hospital stay.
With a lot of good eating — thanks to Mom's Italian cooking — and a lot of time lifting, he regained the weight. After taking a medical redshirt at C.W. Post, he transferred to Nassau Community College and played two seasons of junior college ball. Then he transferred to Syracuse and the Big East, where he started all but one game over two seasons at right tackle.
And now, less than five years removed from that life-threatening and life-altering stabbing incident, Hay is at the Rams' rookie minicamp this weekend as an undrafted free agent. Now at 307 pounds, he is listed on the team's roster as an offensive guard, although he played tackle during Friday's practice.
Realistically, Hay's best chance may be to make the Rams' practice squad rather than the 53-man roster in September. But you never know.
In 1995, Mike Gruttaduaria signed with Dallas as a rookie free agent. In 1996, he made the Rams' roster, and in 1999, he was starting center for the Rams' Super Bowl XXXIV championship squad.
As for Hay, he arrived at Rams Park with the rest of the rookies Thursday night on the threshold of his dream. Coach Jeff Fisher likes players with a passion for the game, and players with an edge to them — and that's Hay.
"It's been a long road, but there's a lot more work ahead of me," Hay said. "I'm going to keep on writing this book, and this is the next chapter. On the one hand it's a dream come true; on the other hand you've got to keep on working."
By Jim Thomas
Michael Hay wasn't just stabbed within an inch of his life. Try one millimeter — or 4/100ths of an inch.
The knife wound, Hay said, "was a millimeter away from my aorta. My doctor said if he would have twisted it, or I would have moved differently, I would have bled to death on the street."
Hay, who lives in Queens, N.Y., was driving home from a day working construction with his father in the summer of 2007. As Hay pulled up to a stop sign, an acquaintance yelled out something at him. Hay yelled back. The next thing you know, they were both flailing away at each other on the street.
"It was like my friends and his friends didn't get along," Hay said. "And it was kind of right then-and-there, a spur of the moment fistfight. After the fistfight he pulled out (a knife) and stabbed me in the side."
The knife punctured Hay's stomach, went through his rib cage, punctured his diaphragm and caused a lung to collapse. He remembers going into surgery, and he remembers waking up intermittently after surgery and seeing his mother Maria at his side in the hospital.
But that was only half of the family nightmare that night. One time that night when he woke up, he noticed his mother wasn't there. He asked a nurse where she was and was told she had another family issue that had come up. Turns out Hay's younger brother Chris had been admitted to the same hospital 12 hours later after suffering a fractured orbital bone in a separate altercation.
As a result of his stab wounds, Hay was in intensive care for five days — in the hospital's pediatrics ward, no less, at 6-4, 285 pounds.
"There were a lot of dark nights in there," Hay said. "When I woke up I was kind of thinking why am I still here?"
As in, why am I still alive?
When he entered the hospital, Hay was just two weeks away from opening preseason camp as a freshman offensive lineman at the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University.
"Will I be good to go (for camp)?" Hay asked his surgeon.
"I don't know if you'll ever play again," the surgeon replied.
For someone still a couple of months away from his 18th birthday, someone who dreamed of playing in the NFL, it was a sobering wakeup call.
"I thought about it, and I said, 'What do I want to do?' " Hay said. "I want to work. I want to finish this dream out. That's when I started to change my whole outlook on life."
Physically, the doctors and nurses saved his life after the stabbing. Mentally and emotionally, Hay says it was football that saved his life.
"It pretty much kept me on track; kept me straight," Hay said.
He decided to keep playing after his discharge from the hospital, but first he had get his weight up after losing about 60 pounds during his hospital stay.
With a lot of good eating — thanks to Mom's Italian cooking — and a lot of time lifting, he regained the weight. After taking a medical redshirt at C.W. Post, he transferred to Nassau Community College and played two seasons of junior college ball. Then he transferred to Syracuse and the Big East, where he started all but one game over two seasons at right tackle.
And now, less than five years removed from that life-threatening and life-altering stabbing incident, Hay is at the Rams' rookie minicamp this weekend as an undrafted free agent. Now at 307 pounds, he is listed on the team's roster as an offensive guard, although he played tackle during Friday's practice.
Realistically, Hay's best chance may be to make the Rams' practice squad rather than the 53-man roster in September. But you never know.
In 1995, Mike Gruttaduaria signed with Dallas as a rookie free agent. In 1996, he made the Rams' roster, and in 1999, he was starting center for the Rams' Super Bowl XXXIV championship squad.
As for Hay, he arrived at Rams Park with the rest of the rookies Thursday night on the threshold of his dream. Coach Jeff Fisher likes players with a passion for the game, and players with an edge to them — and that's Hay.
"It's been a long road, but there's a lot more work ahead of me," Hay said. "I'm going to keep on writing this book, and this is the next chapter. On the one hand it's a dream come true; on the other hand you've got to keep on working."
