Now it can be told. Last Thursday, Andrew had an accident at school. The gym class was playing football, but not in the smartest location on the school grounds, because there happened to be a light-pole along the side of their field. Andrew was running, looking back over his shoulder trying to catch a pass. He turned to face forward right before he smacked into the light-pole and gave himself a pretty gruesome gash on his forehead. It was more of a “rupture” than a “laceration”, and judging by his clothes and shoes, it was very bloody.
Coincidentally, his mom happened to be heading into the school for a conference when she was told, “Don’t go into the office. Some kid in there is hurt pretty bad.” “Who is it?”, she asked, noticing the trail of blood leading to the door. “Some fifth-grader named Andrew.” Well, even though there’s more than one fifth grader named Andrew, Michelle’s worst fears were soon confirmed. An on-campus doctor had gotten him bandaged up well enough to travel to the emergency room. Michelle drove him there and that’s where I met up with them. (Thanks for the lift, Joey.)
Though I’ve had a history of some pretty bizarre injuries myself, I’m sorry to say that when they unwrapped his forehead, it was the worst looking wound I’ve ever seen in real life. To preserve Andrew’s handsomeness, Michelle asked that a plastic surgeon be brought in at the very beginning, to make sure he got the best stitch-up job possible. The doctor did a great job and Andrew was unbelievably brave. He’s only 10, but he never shed a tear at any point during the ordeal. Through the waiting, cleaning, anesthesia injections, stitching, and several bandage changes by us, he has been a real champ.
Apparently, “never shed a tear” can’t be said for several of his friends who saw the accident happen or even just heard about it. Andrew had a few choked up messages waiting for him on the answering machine when he finally got home.
The next day, he stayed home from school, but Michelle did take him in at the end of the day to pick up his homework. It was about the same time of day as the accident had occurred, and his class was again in gym. He went over to say “Hi” and he was immediately swarmed by all his friends wanting to see how he was doing. To hear him describe it, it sounded like a real “Hail the Conquering Hero” moment. Also, all the kids in Holly’s class made him “Get Well Soon” cards. Most were very sweet, but a couple were rather morbid. One had a picture of a bleeding head, but my favorite one said “I’M SORRY YOU CRACT YOUR HEAD OPEN.”
He has written up his (rather terse) version of events on his website, along with a couple of post-stitch-up photos. Go to www.acesbase.com and look for the Dec. 5th news, or click on the photo above to see what he had to say.
For his cousin who is jealous of how photogenic Andrew has always been: This is your chance to see possibly the first “bad” photo ever taken of him. (You know who you are.)
