This is the story of a young man who is a role model for a sport, a town, and hopefully America. The story begins last September 29th when this young man was playing football for his High School football team in NJ. With 3 minutes left in the first half this young man was playing safety.  (He was the Starting QB offense, and played Corner and Safety on Defense depending on the down and yardage) He went to make a tackle on this "Coke Machine with legs" and during the collision he shattered his C5 Vertebrae. At first he and his parents (I'm Dad) didn't think much of it. I was on the field since he did not get u,p but all he kept saying was "it's a bad stinger", but after a few minutes he tried to get up, it was then he looked at me and said "I can't lift my head " that's when things started to get a little hairy for my wife and I. They strapped him to a backboard and taped his head to it and took him to the hospital. As they are closing the door to the ambulance he asks the trainer if he would be able to make it back before the 4th quarter.  Thats when we found out that he shattered his C5.  Needless to say he and the entire family was devastated (my eldest son wad the Defensive corordiater for the team at the time). It was at that  moment he realized that he would not play for the rest of the season, while my wife and I were worried that if any of the shards touched his spinal cord he may whined up paralyzed. He lay on a hospital bed we brought into the house for 10 weeks.The first eight weeks the Doctors kept telling him that his days of playing any contact sport s were over. They wanted to go in and put a cage in and fuse his Vertebrae together.  During those 10 weeks  he had to lay flat on his back most of the day and night. He was only allowed to get up to go to the bathroom and stretch is legs every few hours (roughly 20 out of the 24 hrs in a day he was on his back) . While laying on his back and just staring up at the ceiling he prayed most of the time asking God to help him heal and give him a chance to play the following year (his senior year).  Low and behold after the 10 weeks his two spinal specialist couldn't believe how he healed and even stated that there was no reason why he couldn't play again. My wife and I were torn about this. We did not wont him to play any more and thats all he wanted to do. We brought in a family therapist to help us discuss this situation for weeks. Since he was turning 18 Sept 1st his argument was he didn't need our permission to sign him up he could do it himself but he really didn't want to do that. He wanted our approval and support. So we came to the agreement that if he played he can only play offense. Well he started this year as QB and lead his team to a perfect season 10-0, Then he and the team advanced to the State Championship which they WON!! (First in the Schools 60+ year history) he started the game(first play) with a 47 yard throw and finished it off with a four yard TD. He threw for over a 140 yard and rushed for 70+ (ran in two TDs). He was named  MVP of the game. 

So the Long and the Short of this story is, never give up on your DREAMS some day they may just come true!!