I feared this was coming. I have a lot of experience dealing with patients recovering from traumatic brain injuries. As soon as I saw the protocol they were looking for with him that many days post-surgery e.g. just hoping he would be responsive to commands while not yet fully "awake" from the coma ("wiggle your toes!").... I had a horrible sinking feeling in my stomach because at that point I knew it was over for Stedman in the NFL barring an absolute miracle. He might well recover still. And thanks be to God it looks like he will. But his motor skills will not be at the NFL level. Unless, of course, we see a miracle. I hope that we do. So sad and tragic to see young lives altered by cowards in this way. However, I have seen worse. Young people reduced to total vegetables by drunk drivers crashing into them, leading to severe brain haemorrhaging. If Stedman can heal and have a nice quality of life, then he should thank his lucky stars.
Stedman was one of my favorite Rams on the field. I also follow the Rams on their social media accounts. Stedman was easily my favorite Ram as a person, from what I could see through the limited window into the players' lives online that they let the public view. And that speaks to Stedman in the highest regard, rather than a knock on any others.He seems like a fun, nice dude but above that an amazing father. The love for his son is immediately apparent. You can tell that little boy is the world for him. I continue to pray daily he recovers to raise his beautiful son and enjoy the things in life that matter more than football.
Already this post is getting long. But again, I have lots of experience with traumatic brain injury patients so this hits close to home. Just thinking somebody would do this always gets me worked up.