GOD’S AMAZING GRACE

I’ve been blessed to be calling basketball games on radio for the University of Alabama since 2002. And, I have to pinch myself when I say this, but I recently became the Voice of the Crimson Tide football team. But if it wasn’t for God’s amazing grace, I wouldn’t be here to enjoy this ride.

Three times in a 16-month period, I experienced serious health battles which almost took my life.

In 2018, my family woke to find me in bed incoherent in a fetal position. We don’t know how long I had been in that state. I was taken to St Vincent’s hospital and they found two blood clots which had caused a stroke. But there wasn’t a surgeon at that hospital that could perform the surgery right away. God showed His hand in my journey because a surgeon at another hospital, Dr. Jitendra Sharma, just happened to have two cancellations that morning. He said to immediately send me over to Brookwood Baptist Hospital in an ambulance and he’d perform the surgery.

I was rushed into the operating room. Dr. Sharma identified the clots and was able to remove one clot. But he couldn’t clear the second clot. He had a clot-clearing device on its max setting and my blood pressure was over 200. The clot was not budging and I was running out of time. I later asked him about it and he said, “I was going to fight as long as you were, but frankly, you were running out of time and there was no plan B.” He said, “on the last attempt that I could make in good conscious, you opened your eyes, which is an indication the clot has cleared, and looked right at me. We put you to sleep and put the stent in.”

That was the first time Dr. Sharma, and the Lord, saved my life.

As a result of my stroke, my eyesight was greatly affected in my left eye. Not great for a play-by-play announcer. So I’d wear tape over my left eye when I was wearing glasses or a patch if I was wearing contacts. I was told that my eyesight would be restored but it may take 2 ½ to 3 years. Quite discouraging. After 11 months, I went back to the Callahan Eye Clinic for a follow-up visit. The doctors there tested my left eye and told me to throw away the patch. The doctor said my eye was completely healed and they had no explanation. I told them that I did: it was totally the hand of God.

I resumed my play-by-play work and five months after my eye was healed (and 16 months after my stroke), I ran into Dr. Sharma at a social event. He asked how I felt and I told him I had a little tingling feeling in my arm. He asked where and I pointed to the upper part of my left arm. He had a very concerned look and told me that was a possible heart issue. The next day, Dr. Sharma got me an appointment with a cardiologist. They did a stress test on me and it showed an abnormality. They said I needed an arteriogram, and that I would either need a stent or possibly a bypass operation.

My mind instantly went to thoughts of my mom. At 45, she had this operation. And again at 55. During that second operation, she died.

I had the surgery on a Monday, and they found 95% blockage in the artery called the widow maker.

Who knows how long until that blockage would have led to a fatal heart attack. Yet another sign of the hand of God in my life.

They thought the surgery was a success, and I went home Friday. But things were about to get even worse. I have absolutely no memory of the next month.

I came down with pneumonia, sepsis, MRSA and rhabdomyolysis, a medical condition where muscle tissue breaks down rapidly, releasing harmful substances into the bloodstream. As a result, almost every organ in my body started shutting down due to this infection.

I was put into a coma and onto a ventilator. I contracted a staph infection in my lungs and blood. My family was told to be prepared to call friends to say goodbye because they didn’t think I would make it. After two weeks in a coma, I slowly started to respond.

I remained in the hospital for 91 days, and then in a rehab facility for three weeks.

There were some dark times. There was a period where I was convinced I wasn’t going to get better, much less ever get back to calling sports events on the radio. Times when I almost wanted to give up. But one day when I was at my lowest point and not eating, my youngest son came to the hospital and laid his head on my stomach. It felt like the Holy Spirit was sending me a message that I had a lot left to live for. It gave me the motivation to get better.

But I was a shell of myself, having gone from 175 pounds to 115. My speech was affected, again not good for a play-by-play guy, and I had to go through speech therapy.

Once again, God had blessed me with a recovery. I walked into my house in 2019 the day before Thanksgiving, and returned to call my first basketball game in January 2020.

Throughout my journey, I learned about the goodness of others and saw first-hand the body of Christ at work. Because of my job, people knew what I was going through. I had so many people that I had never met come up to me and say they were praying for me. Once I returned to calling games, I had people from opposing teams come up to give me hugs and shake my hand. I was even calling a game at Auburn, Alabama’s biggest rival, and was warmly greeted by their fans and coaches.

I was truly overwhelmed by their kindness and prayer, and it totally reinforced my beliefs.

The medical professionals that worked on me have told me, “We’ve got no explanation for you surviving, let alone for you to be doing as well as you are. It’s a miracle.” I have no doubt that those prayers are what pulled me through.

As a play-by-play guy and public speaker, I’ve been given an opportunity and a platform to share my story. I am blessed to be able to speak to groups about what an incredible God we have and what He’s done in my life. I tell them that we are not promised another second, to enjoy life and be a blessing to others.

I never should have lived. On three different occasions. But God spared my life and showed me favor for whatever reason. I was not only allowed to live, but be fully healed and fully restored and was given a platform to share the story of what He has done for me. I certainly didn’t do anything to deserve this favor, but it mirrors God’s gift of salvation for us. It’s a free gift to us. I was incredibly blessed.

I’m not an example of who you should be, but I am an example of the incredible mercy and love of God. I know first-hand that every day is a gift from Him.