24 Forgotten Hours

Photo by: Lori Fahrenholz

Photo by: Lori Fahrenholz

Maddie Van Zeeland, Student of Journalism

At 6 a.m. David Murphy wakes up for his tennis tournament. He wakes up in the hospital 24 hours later.

At 9 a.m. Murphy plays his first match of the day against De Pere. He always gives his all and easily wins the match. With two matches left for the day, Murphy collapses onto a bench while he waits. He wakes up in the hospital 20 hours later.

At 12 p.m. Murphy plays a grueling match, lasting almost three hours. Murphy wins. He wakes up in the hospital 16 hours later.

At 4 p.m. Murphy plays his last match of the day against Eden Prairie. He loses the first set. Exhausted, he begins the second set. The cramping starts. Pain shoots up from his quads to his wrists. Miraculously, Murphy wins the second set. Murphy must win a tiebreaker to win the match. Murphy starts dropping his racket and falling over midpoint, yet he still plays. He wins. He wakes up in the hospital 12 hours later.

At 7 p.m. Murphy can’t walk. His coach lifts him into the back of the car. Upon arriving at the ER, he receives countless tests. His world begins to blur. Valium pumps into his veins in an attempt to prevent a seizure. Panicked, Murphy shares all his gratitude with his parents.

“I remember having no control over what I was saying, I was just talking.”

He falls into a dazed sleep. He wakes up in the hospital eight hours later.

At 9 a.m. Murphy meets with a doctor who clears him from the hospital. Less than 48 hours later, Murphy goes back to school, and practice, and Touch of Class, and National Honors Society, and everyone forgets.

May 14 becomes nothing more than a haunting memory for Murphy; a day that he prefers to forget.