"The last thing I remember is being thrown on a surgical table with a mask on me and them yelling 'Get 'em out now, we've got to get in there," That's last memory, just seconds before doctors cut into the abdomen of SilverHawks manager Mark Haley.
Days before that memory, Haley had a back surgery, walked out the next day and was preparing for Christmas eve with the family. That's when things went horribly wrong.
"All of the sudden I started getting some pain in my stomach and went into the hospital, went into the emergency room and had a perforated bowel. The next thing you know things began to get worse and worse and worse," says Haley.
The worst part for Haley wasn't the 16 days he lay there in a coma, it was thinking about the people who went through the suffering while they waited for him to wake up.
"Unfortunately or fortunately, I slept through it all. Everybody else, the community, my family, friends, and all the fans, and I thank them because they had to go through it. I put myself in their position and it's got to be pretty scary and pretty traumatic," says Haley.
Haley knows that in an instant, things could have gone completely different, and he wouldn't be here.
He knows he's blessed to be where he is today, in the dugout.
This has changed him.
"You kind of understand what family means and you know I look at things a lot different and I'm not as obsessed as I have been in the past but still the desire is there but I'm not going to be as, I wouldn't say demanding, but I would just say I'm going to create more balance," says Haley.
Haley still is not 100%
It will take him nearly a year to get back there.
He's lost almost 60 pounds.
But that last memory he has before his life changed forever, will help him remember every day he has, from here on out.
"It's been a long road but you know what, baseball motivates me, my family motivates me, this community motivates me. You know I'm always going to be in the dugout not matter what," says Haley.
The SilverHawks play their home opener at Coveleski Stadium Monday, April 9th at 7:05pm.
