Andrew Luck visits teen with serious injuries suffered in season opening game
Edinburgh (Ind.) High football star Steven Bailey's rough week got a lot brighter when superstar quarterback Andrew Luck paid him a surprise visit in the hospital room in which he is recovering from a series of drastic injuries suffered during his team's first game of the season.
As reported by the Indianapolis Star and tweeted by Bailey himself, the 15-year-old was visited by Luck while he was recovering at the Riley Hospital for Children following hospitalization for dramatic injuries suffered during a game against Manual (Ind.) High. A running back for Edinburgh, Bailey suffered a ruptured spleen, lacerated kidney and punctured lung on a kick return in the first half of the opening game between the teams.
The teen didn't immediately five a sense of dire danger after the tackle which left him injured, but that changed quickly after he returned to the sideline without his pads with what trainers believed was probably a rib injury.
Instead, he fell off the bench in pain, and as his parents drove away from the field, intending to return to their local hospital to have Bailey checked out, he began screaming, inspiring a rapid detour to the closest emergency room so he could receive immediate treatment.
"He was pale white when we got there so doctors must have been able to tell it was internal bleeding," the sophomore's father, Harvey Bailey, told the Star. "As they were pushing the blood into his body, you could see the color coming back into his face. They said it was good thing we got him there when we did. The decision to take him further down the road would have cost him his life."
The teen spent the days after his injury under supervision in a hospital room, struggling to regain his strength. Yet he was miserable in the hospital by himself, tweeting about his injuries -- he reportedly lost a liter of blood due to internal bleeding -- and literally begged anyone and everyone to come visit him. That's precisely why Luck's surprise appearance made such a big difference.
The Colts quarterback spent plenty of time talking with the teen, then signed a football for him and a photo for his older brother. In the process, he clearly lifted the spirits of a fellow football player who will have to spend six months without any contact, but who could return to the sport in time for his junior season.
"It was the first time I had seen him smile since Friday," said Bailey’s father, Harvey. "I'm not sure Andrew Luck has any idea what he did for my son showing up there. He’s an absolute class act."
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