2012 Tanoa Bowl

Hello All.
Well, it was an interesting weekend for football....Ohio State lost, Ducks won and Derek ended up riding in an ambulance.
 
Derek was invited to play in the Tanoa Bowl.  It is an all-Polynesian football game.  It was 4 states (Utah, Washington, Alaska and Oregon) all playing.  Sadly, Team Oregon had to compete against a very good Team Alaska.  Gary and his friend, Dawn, came down to watch as well.  Derek got to play Tight End and receiver.  It was so much fun watching and yelling for Team Oregon....until 3 seconds before half time when the ball was intercepted and Derek went after the ball.  That is when Derek got a helmet to helmet hit.
 
Derek was lying there on the ground not moving....and I turned to Gary and said "um...he's getting up right?".  Actually no, it looked as if Derek had broken his neck.  So he got to ride to the hospital in an ambulance.  I immediately called mom and told her what was going on.  She called the temple and put Derek's name in the temple.  And as I was being driven to the hospital by one of the workers at the game, I said to mom, "find out who is a bishop up here so Derek can get a blessing." The lady driving me said, My husband is the Bishop.
 
Nothing is more scarey than watching your son being taped (helmet and all) to a board by EMTs not knowing what is going on.
 
I knew that Derek was going to be ok...many blessings were said and by the time he was in the hospital, Derek was able to tell me quite a bit.  They took a CT scan of his head and neck and both came back clean.  We were so relieved that he had not broken his neck.  They finally took him off of the board from the ambulance.  At that point, I let Gary and Dawn go home --> which if it weren't for them, I would have lost my mind.
 
Derek is completely fine.  It is as if he never was injured.  He got a little dizzy yesterday but I think he was trying to do too much too soon.  He has no headache and no injury.
 
The picture of him in the hospital is Gary and me trying to lighten the mood in the ER.  Even Derek laughed at that.  The other picture is of the field in Auburn, Washington where they played. On the Friday night prior to the game, they had a HAKA contest between each team.  Here is the web site to check out: http://tanoabowl.com/
 
THANK YOU for all your love and prayers on Derek's behalf.  As Derek's only parent it was hard being brave in front of him.... I finally got to cry on the drive home from Auburn.
 

Football games

The last 2 football games have been AMAZING!! First of all, the big rivalry against Beaverton was going to be HUGE but adding to the fact that Derek had an amazing game made it even better.  Here is what the newspaper said..."This time, on the fourth play of his team’s second offensive series, Aleaziz hit Derek Westhora over the middle and Westhora broke away for a 67-yard score and a 21-0 lead with 6:48 remaining in the first quarter." - AWESOME!!

I think my parents and family were screaming so hard that the whole town heard it.  What a great game!! The best part...most of my brothers graduated from Beaverton.

Tough day

Nothing sends a mother into a "rage" more than getting a voicemail during her day from her son's school saying that because of some choices....consequences will be given.  REALLY??? And I thought I was going to have a great day.  I am going to chalk it up to lack of sleep at the age of 17.  Now, let's see how long that excuse will last

The first game back (Southridge vs Lincoln)

So last Friday was Derek's first game since his concussion. It was at Jeld-Wen field (home of the Portland Timbers). It was a lot of fun to watch them play in a huge football field. Derek played both offense and defense. Of course the game started at 4pm and I couldn't get there that early. DEREK scored the first TOUCHDOWN!! Did I know about?? Um.....no. Not until I picked Derek up after the game. Thank goodness the news channels all had his touchdown on tv or I would have never seen it. He also made it into the newspaper. And this will tell you how crazy I am... The newspaper articles are framed and on the wall. I also found the highlight of his touchdown and sent it to all my siblings. The blessing of todays's technology.

The first day of his senior year

Um...yes I cried all the way to work today. It is the first day of Derek's senior year. Of course, Derek doesn't think it is a big deal.

The concussion

A mother's worst nightmare is when her child is injured. It is the same for a coach. About two weeks ago, Derek received a concussion during football practice. With the new rules surrounding concussions - all symptoms have to be gone prior to even being cleared by a dr to go back to play. It was really hard to watch Derek deal with having a concussion. Super huge injury with huge implications in the long run. BUT when you have a son, who LOVES to play football, who is a senior, who wants to play in college, it was hard to watch him deal with the implications of a concussion. Has he stopped?? no.. He hopes to start in this weeks game.

The baby story

A few days ago, Derek and I babysat my nephew and his sisters. We had a lot of fun until...bed time. My nephew decided that he didn't want to sleep. Go figure - he's only 8 months old. Derek really stepped up to the plate BECAUSE Derek got up in the middle of the night to feed him. But the best part was the next day. Derek changed a blow out poopy diaper!!! I was so proud of him.