A fall nearly killed Strathmore High’s football coach. A month later, he’s set for new season
Strathmore High football coach Jeromy Blackwell is counting his blessings after a freak accident nearly cost him his life.
Blackwell was outside his home working in the yard, his favorite thing to do.
“I don’t want to mow your lawn, but I’ll mow my lawn,” he said.
But he tripped over his 14-year-old Yorkie poodle and landed face first on the concrete that June 30 day.
He said he tried to hold on to a canopy as he fell, but the force in which he hit the ground knocked him out. He was able to move a bit, but ended up in the mud, gurgling in the dirty water.
Despite lying there for almost two hours, as the temperature soared toward a high of 104 degrees, Blackwell says he doesn’t remember any of it.
Caroline, his wife, was taking a nap after working an early shift. She woke up and went outside to check on him. He was under a bush — still in the mud, face down.
“What the heck?” she said out loud, looking at her husband. “‘Jeremy, Jeremy wake up,’” she pleaded. “It sounded like he was snoring.”
She called 911, medical personnel arrived and Blackwell was taken to Kaweah Health hospital.
Doctors told his wife that he was suffering from dehydration, a possible concussion, and heat stroke along with aspiration of mud. They described it as a “perfect storm” of medical issues.
He was intubated and put into a medically induced coma.
Seeking prayers for coach
Each day that passed, Caroline posted on Facebook, asking for prayers for his recovery.
Those prayers were answered when he woke up on July 8. His wife, daughter Kylee and his former coach Scott Bowser were there to see it.
“He said, ‘It’s good to see you.’” said Blackwell, who was discharged from the hospital July 13. “I’ve never experienced anything like that. I don’t remember going down.”
Blackwell continued to be monitored by the physicians, and there were more anxious moments. Though it was meant to help him relax and aid the recovery, the drugs he received during his treatment made him fearful he might go to sleep and never wake up.
He said he hallucinated at one point and “had some weird visions,” of course about the things he does best: Mentoring kids and sharing knowledge about the sport he loves.
“I was talking to these 12-year-old boys that don’t exist, for like eight hours, but I was having a conversation about football and I kept seeing these weird, like gnats flying around the room.”
“And I, I actually told the nurse, ‘Can you just do something with these gnats? They’re everywhere?’ And she was like, ‘Dude, this room is very clean.’”
Blackwell continued to receive get-well- wishes, including from Lindsay High coach Casey Higginbotham. They grew up together, then played at College of the Sequoias before Blackwell went on to Fresno State.
Higginbotham went to the hospital to see his friend.
“I never looked at the worst (case) situation,” he said. “I know there’s a lot of people praying for him. I know Jeremy is a fighter. I know him like the back of my hand, he’s going to fight his way through everything. I knew he would pull through because of the support he was having and the type of person he is. You know the worst could happen, but I always believed that he would pull through.”
Support continued to pour in on Facebook. Blackwell wanted to be in coach mode, in charge and coordinating the world around him, but his wife wouldn’t allow him to pick up the phone and work.
Amid the demand for updates, Higginbotham said he was receiving friend requests on Facebook because people wanted to know how Blackwell was doing.
Back to coaching for Blackwell
Blackwell said he’s now at 98%, with a full-go from doctors to resume coaching.
He’s back on the football field, getting his team prepared for the season opener Aug. 18.
The Spartans will begin their new season at Exeter.
Blackwell is 166-87, with six league championships and four section titles and two runner-up finishes since he became the head coach in 2001, according to section historian Bob Barnett.
“I’ve been officially out of the hospital for three weeks, remarkably better off than I was three weeks ago,” he said.
“Like once a week, you look back and, like, wow, everything’s getting better fast. Just one of those experiences where you never want to live through it again.”
