I was skimming through the Internet yesterday when I seen a story from Kevin Ware. Intrigued by the contents, I opened up the story and read it. I had long wondered what his thoughts were on what happened since and how he was doing. Because of a friend I had that knew him, I talked to Kevin and was able to hear some of this story then. This answered it all. Here is an excerpt followed by the link to the story Enjoy the writings of Cardinal Forever: Kevin Ware.
I’ve watched the video.
Once.
And once was enough. I didn’t want to see it again after that. I can play it back in my mind, and the memory is as vivid as any video footage out there.
It was Easter Sunday in 2013. The Elite Eight. We were a No. 1 seed and we had a four-point lead over Duke, a No. 2 seed. A Final Four berth was on the line. There were just under seven minutes left in the first half. Duke was bringing the ball down the court, and somehow we got out of position on a defensive rotation and we left Tyler Thornton wide open for a three on the wing. I was at the top of the key — closest to the shooter — and Chane Behanan gave me a nudge to get out and contest the shot.
I remember bursting up to block the shot, and while I was in the air, turning my head back to watch the ball as it made its way to the basket. I wasn’t looking at where I was going to land.
I remember my feet hitting the ground.
I remember my body hitting the floor.
I remember that the first thing I saw was Coach Pitino looking down at me as I was lying on the sideline.
He looked like he’d seen a ghost.
Then I looked down and saw my shinbone sticking out of my right leg.
And I remember thinking, Oh s***…
I didn’t feel any pain. I don’t know if I was in shock or what. But honestly, I didn’t feel anything. Everybody else was hysterical. My teammates were crying. People were losing their minds. I had Luke Hancock kneeling over me saying, “Just relax … everything’s gonna be O.K.”
Once I was able to process what had happened, I honestly didn’t think about myself. My only thought was, I hope we win this game. I wanted us to win because we had worked so hard to get to that point. But I also wanted us to win so it wouldn’t feel like I had gotten injured for nothing.
So that was my message to the guys as the paramedics wheeled me off the court to the ambulance.
“Don’t worry about me,” I kept saying.
“Just win this damn game.”
So glad to here what happened with you and glad to see you open up on how you felt. I remember as well looking at the game and feeling terrible and hoping everything would work out for you. I hope everything is going well for you because it was so sad. Is thus the beginning of a Book on how to survive and accident like this. I hope so because I would purchase your book. Hope everything is going well for ya.