Rouse’s hearts went 115 miles away to a football player most of us will never meet, but will somehow never forget.

David Wilganowski, a linebacker for the Bryan Rudder varsity football team, nearly died Sept. 2 while playing us on his home field. Thankfully, he miraculously survived, but will never be able to play again because of a heart condition. For everyone though, that’s a fair price to pay to keep him alive with them.

I wasn’t there at that away game, but every time I heard someone tell me what happened, I got chills. They told me how the whole stadium went quiet and how at first it looked like he would be fine, but everyone started to see it was much more serious than that. They told me how his family went on the field to be with him and how they couldn’t stand to see his mother crying next to him. They told me about how they couldn’t talk to anyone the whole way back home and were checking every news station just to see if he would be okay.

When I heard them talk, I couldn’t help imagining one of our own guys being hurt that bad while playing. From the ones I hang out with to the ones I sometimes say ‘Hi’ to in the hallways to the ones I only see in Pre-Calculus, I couldn’t imagine living another day without any of them.

One of them best things that came out of that incident was the whole school coming together. I didn’t see anyone saying they were glad that we tried or that this wasn’t a big deal; everyone was truly concerned. On Facebook, all down my home page were people wondering what was going on and asking people to pray for David. Not once did anyone ask what the score turned out to be or the plays that Rouse made. They all wanted to help anyway they could and pray for the family.

I think everyone will remember the Bryan Rudder game for a very long time and I just hope they remember how everyone came together and prayed for someone that we never even met.