An Unfinished Life Read Online Free Page A

chased since beginning college at Northwestern University. We had a lot of things going for ourselves. One: we were triplets, and you don’t see that too often. Two: we were huge and could take out many opponents with a strong block or hit. Three: we loved the game.
    Having been scouted in our senior year of high school back in Boulder, Colorado, my father knew we would make it. We all showed promise and the drive to someday make it all the way to the NFL.
    For me, my dream ended with a career ending injury that would cost me more than football, but my eyesight. I had taken some tough hits throughout my college playing days and the first year in my professional career, but true to form, I was stronger in mind and could take the body hits.
    Then came the game changer…the one hit that changed my life.
    The force behind the attack was fierce, coming out of nowhere, and he was unforgiving. I had just made the game winning touchdown, and before I could even celebrate my victory, I was hit, and hit hard. My body skipped across the end zone as easily as a stone skipping across a pond. My head snapped back and hit the ground at full speed, and then there was just darkness.
    Whispering voices were all around me. I heard the beeping sound of machines and the door opening and closing. Someone was holding my hand, and then I felt her tears. I knew it had to be my mother; no time for a girlfriend back then since my life was all about football.
    Marina Paulson begged me to open my eyes, and when I finally managed to do so, I was surrounded by darkness. I had never been so scared in all of my life. I gripped my mother’s hand to the point of pain. She shrieked, and I instinctively let go. My father was by my side and telling me to calm down, saying that I would be alright. But how could I be alright if I couldn’t see?
    A neurologist had been flown in from Johns Hopkins. He was said to be the best in his field. Dr. Samuel Briggs was flashing a light into my eyes, and I began to slowly see it as he examined me. He told me that what I was experiencing was just temporary on account of the blunt force trauma I took to my head. Concussions were part of the package of playing, and most of the time I dealt with it and nothing ever happened…until now.
    Over the span of twelve long hours, my vision slowly returned. I had to stay for a few days for observation while more scans were being performed on me. The day Dr. Briggs entered the room with my films was when I knew my NFL career was over. His expression said it all, and if it wasn’t him, I saw it on my father and my two brothers, Andrew and Cameron, who left their teams to be with me after my accident. My coach and agent were also there and wearing the same sullen look. Whatever happened to wearing a poker face? Their expressions were all the same, and for a brief second, I wished I was still in the dark.
    “Come on now, what is this , a funeral?” I said to lighten the mood, but my joke fell on deaf ears.
    “It’s good that you are in lighter spirits, Jacob. It will help with what I have to tell you.” Dr. Briggs said. “I’m so sorry, Jacob, but the scans show what I expected. You suffered another hematoma surrounding the occipital nerve. The swelling has gone down, and you have no bleeds, which is a positive sign, but you do have scar tissue from previous injuries, which is not so good.”
    “But I’m okay now, right? I see just fine, and my head is fine. When can I be released? I’m playing in New York this weekend,” I asked with hope in my voice. It was all I had to hang onto.
    Their faces had fallen again, especially my father’s. Dr. Briggs placed the scan on the light to show me what he was trying to explain.
    “You see this right here, Jacob? This is where your now healed hematoma presented, and here and here are patches of healed scar tissue. Your brain simply cannot take another hit like the one you just went through. I’m sorry, son, but your days of playing