ELKHORN — Michael Lois is a big believer in destiny.
But this?
He was in a swimming pool and in trouble. He was trying desperately to keep his head above water. He could not feel the left side of his body. He was trying to stand on his right leg but to no avail. He went back under.
This couldn’t possibly be his destiny, could it?
“I came out of the water a couple of times and yelled for help,’’ he said. “They didn’t know at the time I had broken my neck.”
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It was a glorious Sunday afternoon on that September day in 2016. Michael, a 16-year-old sophomore at Elkhorn High School with a full scholarship to play football at Iowa tucked in his pocket, was at his friend’s girlfriend’s home. They had just watched the Packers and Vikings play to a 29-29 tie and with the temperatures in the 70s and a pool out back, it was time to make the most of the fast-fading summer.
“I thought it was a good idea to bring the trampoline to the side of the pool and we would jump in,’’ he said.
It was fun at first. Then it wasn’t. On Michael’s third jump, the floaty being used as the landing spot moved. Michael’s feet were above his head.
“I went right to the bottom and hit my head,” he said.
And that’s when destiny took a detour.
He had broken the C5, C6 and C7 vertebrae but, not knowing the severity of his injuries, he was pulled out of the pool and put in a chair. Michael’s parents were then called.
At first Matt Lois was told they thought his son had likely suffered a stinger, so he and his wife Hayley got in his truck and headed for the house. About three-quarters of the way there, Matt got another call.
“They said “Are you almost here? Michael’s not feeling too good,’” said Matt. “And so I then pretty much put the hammer down.”
Once they arrived and saw their son, they called 911.
“I absolutely remember the look on my mom’s face,’’ said Michael. “She was horrified. I felt awful.”
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Matt and Michael were regular attendees at Camp Randall Stadium in Michael’s youth. They would watch the Badgers and dream, like most fathers and sons, of one day being in a Wisconsin uniform.
In eighth grade he was introduced to football. Halfway through his freshman year he was moved up to the Elkhorn varsity. By the end of the year, he was Division I college prospect.
The hopes of the Lois family were Michael would become a Badger. There was a long line of UW graduates in the family and as a still-growing 6-4, 260-pound defensive lineman, Michael was asked to come to Wisconsin for an unofficial visit. It did not go as well as hoped.
Then Iowa came calling.
“Iowa had my heart right away,” he said.
“In eighth grade I started playing football and then sophomore year I got the scholarship from Iowa so that’s always been my destiny; (a football player) is what I thought I was going to be.”
****
The ambulance headed to Summit Hospital near Oconomowoc but upon arrival the Lois’s were told they were not equipped to handle Michael’s situation. They were sent to Children’s Hospital in Milwaukee.
“I wasn’t nervous at all to be honest,’’ said Michael of the ambulance ride. “I was pretty under control. I think I knew I was in God’s hands and I knew I was going to be OK.”
At the time, he may have been the only one.
“They don’t hold anything back on what potentially could happen,’’ said Matt of his initial conversation with the medical team.
Hard discussions were held, difficult decisions were made and papers were signed.
“At that point things were so dire and he was in such bad condition, obviously you have to take a step,’’ said Matt. “As a parent, you spend your whole life being in charge of your child and helping him make the right decisions.
“It was really hard for me to look at another man (Dr. Andrew Foy) and know that he is basically going to be making the health decisions for my child. I was pretty powerless. I felt like I was letting … I don’t want to say letting Michael down but I just didn’t know if I was potentially making the right choices and decisions.”
They installed a halo to stabilize his neck in his initial surgery, which wrapped up around 10 that night. Roughly 10 hours later he was back in surgery again, this one taking nearly eight hours.
“It was probably the longest day of my life,’’ said Matt. “You have no control. And you’re being told and are reading things that don’t sound real promising of how his future will be.
“So as a parent, you’re preparing and thinking of things you can do in your home. Mom’s already preplanning building wheelchair ramps and I was trying to wrap my head around it and accept the potential of the inevitable that this was probably going to be Michael’s fate.”
After that surgery the doctor said Michael would in all likelihood lose the ability to use his right arm.
“And then I asked the doctor if he thought Michael would ever walk again,’’ said Matt. “And he wouldn’t give me a good answer.”
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Whether through the power of prayer, a surgeon’s gifted hands, Michael’s unceasing positivity and unyielding faith or a miracle in the works, answers started to come within the next 48 hours.
Michael was able to sit on the side of his hospital bed and stand up. With the aid of a walker, he soon was able to shuffle his feet. Soon he was walking to the bathroom. And then down the hall.
Nurses who were in the operating room during his initial surgery began to show up to see for themselves.
“They were coming to see him because they couldn’t believe it,’’ said Matt.
Michael attacked physical therapy like he would a left tackle. He would do PT to the point of exhaustion. He would continually push the limits, simultaneously raising the anxiety level of the PT staff.
“That’s the way I’ve always been,’’ said Michael. “I’ve always had a motor and go 100 percent all the time.”
So much progress had been made, yet there was still one more surgery to do. The second surgery fused his broken vertebrae from the back. Now they had to be fused in the front. The risk was Michael could lose much of the mobility he had gained.
“We felt like we were back at square one,’’ said Matt.
He came through that surgery with no complications, was given a laundry list of things he had to accomplish before he would be cleared to leave the hospital and accomplished all in less than a week.
“I don’t think that kid shed a tear in the hospital the whole time,’’ said Matt.
But the euphoria of returning home was soon overtaken by the harsh realities.
“I was just having bad thoughts of what I was going through,’’ said Michael. “Why God would let this happen to me. I had everything going for me and now I had to deal with this.
“I mean, my destiny was to play in the NFL and now the chances of that are very slim. So it was like, ‘What else am I going to do?’ I was born to be a football player.’’
And then came that phone call.
Jeff Alheit was in a men’s bible study group in Lake Geneva when he first learned of Michael’s story. He knew it well, because he lived it.
A star high school football player in Illinois, about the same size as Michael, played the same position as Michael, and suffered a broken neck in a car accident. He knew he had to reach out.
“It was like I could read his mind,’’ said Alheit. “I knew what he was thinking because I knew what he was going through.’’
They became fast friends. Michael joined the bible study group. There were multiple long talks on many subjects, in particular about that powerful drug called football.
“It was a concern of mine,’’ said Alheit. “When I went through that same thing I wouldn’t give up on the idea of playing football either.”
After all his Division 1 offers evaporated and after his strength returned, Alheit walked on to a junior college football team. But they soon learned of his medical history and was asked to leave. He then tried to hook on with an arena league team but the result was the same.
“Now, after several years of maturity and retrospect, I realize that was foolish and how dangerous that probably would have been for me and how grateful I am that I am able to do everything that I’m able to do,’’ he said.
Michael slowly began to come around.
“It took me a little bit but then I saw how successful Jeff had become,’’ said Michael of Alheit, who works in property management and owns his own construction company. “And that was without football.”
The door hasn’t been completely closed on football. There have been several talks within the family about resuming his dream. But also a talk with Dr. Foy.
“On one of our visits, he pretty much had to lay down the law,’’ said Matt. “The thing was Dr. Foy wasn’t really worried about Michael breaking his neck as much as he was of a hardware failure. Michael could break a screw, pull a rod; the hardware in his back could potentially crack a vertebrae from that hardware failing.”
****
Today Michael is a college freshman in Iowa City, Iowa. Despite the accident Iowa honored its commitment and Michael has his full scholarship.
The university has a special relationship with its children’s hospital, which overlooks the field of the Hawkeyes’ home, Kinnick Stadium. After the first quarter of each game, 70,000 fans turn and wave to the children and their families, who gather on the hospital’s 12th floor.
It was during his official visit his junior year when Michael went to the hospital to meet with many of the families.
“I shared my story and let them know there’s hope,’’ Michael said. “It’s just another bump in the road and you’ll get through it. You just have to be mentally strong and keep pushing.”
Then recently, while visiting friends in his dorm, Michael shared his story again.
“That is so crazy,” Michael’s said his friends told him. “There is a kid in Iowa City who broke his neck in a similar accident.”
Michael found Jaxon Hansen and reached out.
“When Jeff reached out to me, it definitely helped me out and changed my life around,’’ said Michael, “so I thought getting in touch with Jaxon and sharing my story, letting him know there is hope and you’ll get through it. I just felt that was my calling.”
And, perhaps, his destiny.