It was nothing but football.
I played at Tennessee State University.
All I did was work out, run, do homework, go to tutoring, go to study hall
and have games on Saturday.
He started playing at the age of five years old,
did really well, left high school with over 25 D1 scholarships
and then onto University of Illinois, quickly transferred to Tennessee State
and he thought he was at the height of his career until September 29.
I do remember that right before the game started,
like pulling up at Vanderbilt Stadium, going into the tunnel.
I do remember that, but I don't really remember the game like that.
On September 29, 2018, Tennessee State was playing Vanderbilt University in Nashville
and Christian was looking forward to that game because one of his former
teammates from University of Illinois was on Vanderbilt's team,
so that was a big game for Tennessee State to play an SEC school.
Up to the half he was playing really hard, five or six solo tackles, doing really well
and then the half came and they left to go to the locker room
and third quarter was about to start and we realized Christian wasn't on the field.
Tonight the TSU community is on edge waiting to see if one of their own
will pull through following an injury.
It was a traumatic brain injury.
I believe that I had concussions, like I had a concussion the week before the game
so it just went over into the Vanderbilt game and I just went out.
We ended up at the Shepherd Center because
Vanderbilt, first of all, recommended this hospital
and we were very familiar with it by being natives of Atlanta.
So a representative from the Shepherd Center here
came to Nashville to meet with us and the doctors and the medical team
and to evaluate Christian's current situation, whether he was a good candidate or not
and we were afraid because, you know, we're still still seeing that
he wasn't, you know, really fully awake
but, you know, in talking to the representative she assured me of the different programs
that were offered here at Shepherd and it made us feel really comfortable
so we came back on October 17, 2018.
I wasn't really sure if he was going to talk, walk, sit up on his own,
but the therapists, they were very aggressive, they had a rigorous program daily.
Even on days that Christian thought he could not, you know, push himself,
they pushed him to the limit, and he said it felt like a football workout some days.
I love Beyond Therapy. We worked hard.
Every day we'd laugh, have fun, we'd lift weights, run, hills,
did everything I was doing when I played football.
But I loved being here.
From the moment we arrived to the time that we left
we still have built relationships with everyone here that we've come in contact with.
The doctors, the medical team, the therapists all have become parts of our lives daily.
They made us feel as though Christian is going to be okay,
you all just make sure that you all are okay because you're now the caregivers.
And Dr. Elmers and others, they just ushered us through step by step
even with my oldest son, we went to a couple of peer groups
to make sure that we were taking care of ourselves
and getting a good understanding of the process.
A challenge for me is my speaking,
like it doesn't sound as clear as it used to before my injury
but it's getting better as we go by, but that's a challenge.
And my memory is coming back so it's getting better.
I'm looking forward to graduating.
It's definitely life-changing. We have learned to adjust.
We know more about traumatic brain injuries now than ever, of course,
and others are reaching out to us.
We had an event and someone called me,
a student was locally injured several weeks ago here at a high school
and he suffered a traumatic brain injury so people are—
I need to get him to the Shepherd Center
because I'm looking at Christian and it's like a miracle.
Hope is here.