'I would have put him to bed that night and he wouldn't have woke up,' dad says of Mike Wallin, running back who suffered serious spleen injury

Jennifer Woods and Darryl Wallin have a lot to be thankful for over the past year.

A few weeks after last year's Thanksgiving, their youngest son, Mike Wallin, suffered a traumatic injury while playing football for the St. Joan of Arc Knights.

"I am forever grateful," said Woods, describing the quick actions of Dr. Taylor Bischoff at Royal Victoria Hospital Regional Health Centre (RVH) as Nov. 2 gave way to Nov. 3 last year at the local hospital.

Earlier that day, Mike, a running back, had attempted to make a tackle covering a punt return during a playoff game against the Patrick Fogarty Flames.

Something popped and Mike, alternatively referred to as Mikey by his parents, coaches and teammates, returned to the bench in serious pain.

An ambulance was called and, at first, the injury did not seem particularly serious. He was diagnosed with a hairline shoulder fracture and bruised ribs.

Not great news - his season would certainly be over with potentially two important playoff games to come - but a typical football injury.

What took place over the next 12 hours amidst the organized chaos of the RVH emergency department was not typical.

It started when Woods and Mike's father, Darryl, noticed that their son was displaying signs of a much more serious peril. The pain was getting worse despite him being pumped with morphine.

"He was the colour of his jersey," said Darryl, referring to the Knights uniforms.

His mother said that Mike's lips, especially, had dramatically changed colour.

"Both Darryl and I noticed ... he was taking longer to come back (to consciousness) each time" the pain would surge, said Woods. "He was holding my hand ... (but) Mikey was just drifting in and out."

She sought out a nurse, who alerted Bischoff, who had just come on shift. The doctor immediately recognized signs of a serious spleen injury and called for an immediate trauma response.

"Everyone just ran" into place, remembered Woods of the emergency room staff.

If you've ever watched medical personnel and other first-responders in the case of an emergency, it can have a profound impact, especially if it's a loved one who is being treated. It's not an exaggeration to say that you can feel someone's life is hanging in the balance.

Suddenly, what was a case of a moderately seriously football injury and a looming discharge was a potentially life-threatening situation for a 15-year-old boy.

Both Woods and Wallin, no longer together but who share four boys ranging in age from Mike, now 16, to 29, voiced immense appreciation for Bischoff's quick action.

"I would have lost my son," explained Wallin, had Mike been discharged. "I would have put him to bed that night and he wouldn't have woke up."

Instead, he was transfused with five doses of blood and soon loaded into an Ornge helicopter for an emergency airlift to the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. His mom was with him while Darryl, their three other sons and family members followed by car down to Toronto.

Asked to describe it, Mike Wallin had little memory.

"I don't really remember it. I was pretty out of it -- I think it took about 15 minutes," said Mike Wallin.

Now the middle of the night, the air-ambulance crew monitored Mike's condition all the way down to Toronto. Arriving at SickKids, the CN Tower was illuminated in colours to honour former Toronto Raptors star Vince Carter, who had his jersey retired that night.

After loading him off, the crew turned Mike just so, encouraging him to have a peek as the illuminated tower stood mute witness to his plight.

Soon under the care of the trauma team of SickKids, widely considered one of the best children's hospitals in the world, the lead doctor declared that they believed his spleen could be saved, depending on how the teen responded.

He was in hospital for about a week, but his spleen fully healed. He is at no elevated risk by playing football again, to say nothing of avoiding the pitfalls that would come later in life if it were removed.

Mike has kept going. And running, including scoring the Knights' first touchdown in this past Thursday's 39-0 victory over the St. Joseph's Jaguars, the team that beat them in last season's Catholic board senior final, a few days after he was seriously injured.

"Revenge tour," Mike said of his team's outlook.

With both parents watching, Mike was a threat all day, including a 30-yard scamper with the game well in hand, his final touch on Thursday.

He was on the shelf for about 10 months and had to miss the spring/summer season with the Huronia Stallions.

Darryl, like any parent, is now a bit more circumspect watching his son, pointing out that he occasionally wonders if fate had been different.

Thankfully, fate, with a bit of luck and the expertise of a team of medical professionals, most notably Dr. Bischoff, have helped a talented young kid get back to chasing his dream.

"I have four boys and I'm very proud and (thankful) for them all," said Woods, "but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't terrified at him playing football (again).

"But it makes him happy and it's what he wants to do."

Peter Robinson covers courts and sports for BarrieToday.