Great article from Det News.

http://detnews.com/article/20091120/SPORTS05/911200350/1049/Stevenson-football-player-loses-kidney--wins-battle-for-his-life

Stevenson football player loses kidney, wins battle for his life

Tom Markowski / The Detroit News

Sterling Heights

When his Sterling Heights Stevenson High football team plays Clarkston on Saturday in the state playoffs, Mark Hanna will be in a wheelchair rooting from the sidelines.  He would rather be at his cornerback position, but realizes he is lucky to be there at all.  It was Oct. 23, in the regular-season finale against Warren Mott, that Hanna made a routine tackle that cost him a kidney -- and nearly his life.

Mott quarterback Ben Filimon had the ball and was running upfield when Hanna made the unassisted tackle. It wasn't a particularly hard hit. Hanna crouched and Filimon came in low and caught Hanna's left side, just below the rib cage, with his helmet.

Hanna's life was in danger, but remarkably he stayed in for four more plays and made another tackle. When play was stopped for a timeout, Hanna became more aware of his injury.

"It felt like a cramp," Hanna said. "I went back to the huddle and I went to D.J. (Mershman, a senior defensive back) and said, I don't feel good, and I was seeing double. D.J. said, you probably got the wind knocked out of you. I thought, at worse, it was a fractured rib.

"When that whistle blew (for the timeout), I said, 'OK, I can come out now.' That's when the pain hit me. Our trainer on the sideline said it was probably a rib. That's when I started to feel sick."

Hanna was on the sideline approximately 15 minutes before he attempted to get his mother's attention. Add to this the time he spent on the field after the hit, and it was close to 25 minutes before Hanna was taken to Troy Beaumont Hospital.

Susan Hanna, as usual, was sitting near midfield with her husband, Mark. Like everyone else, she didn't notice anything wrong until her son came off the field, talked with the trainer and seemed to be in pain.

"I know when the hit took place now," she said. "We've looked at the tape so many times. ... He made a good tackle. I didn't notice anything at the time. Then I saw him lying on the bench. I just saw him lying there."

The pain grew worse. Mark had difficulty making eye contact and his attempts to motion to his parents were feeble. People on the sideline intervened and the Hannas came down to the sideline.

"His face didn't look good at all," Susan said. "He was white. He looked at me and said, 'Mom, I can't move.' I said, let's go to the hospital."

Blood saves him

At the hospital, X-rays, an ultrasound and a CT scan revealed the shattered kidney. The doctors told Susan and her husband that their son had to be taken to Royal Oak Beaumont, where doctors were better equipped to perform the surgery.

"When they told me what happened, I was like in a dream," Susan said. "They said they had to remove the kidney. They said it was life-threatening. They feared there could be internal poisoning. I couldn't believe it. I absolutely feared for his life."

Mark's pain increased every second, so much so that groans replaced words. The worst was when they performed the CT scan.

"That's when the pain was climaxing," Mark said.

Hanna's father went with his son in the ambulance, and Susan, still in disbelief, followed. She said her son went into surgery at 10:45 p.m. and the doctors came out around 1 a.m.

"They showed us the kidney," Susan said. "The blood had formed around the kidney. It was shaped like a football. He had lost so much blood. They said the blood saved his life. It kept the kidney in place."

Dr. Mark Frikker told Mark's parents it was a Grade 5 renal injury, the most severe. That night, Dr. Frikker was part of a team that performed the two-hour exploratory surgery to remove the kidney. The doctors made a 12-inch incision down the middle of Hanna's chest and went in to check for any further damage. There was none. Thirty-five staples were used to close the wound.

Mark is expected to make a full recovery, but was given a list of dos and don'ts.

"The doctors were so good," Susan said. "They were so compassionate. Dr. Frikker was very thorough. This was our 16-year-old son. He said, we'll take it week by week."

"Yes, it was life-threatening," Dr. Frikker said. "If he had not had the operation to remove the kidney, he would have died.

"The blood was contained. Eventually it would have burst. I've never seen this before."

Dr. Frikker said Hanna lost about 25-33 percent of his blood. He said a normal person has 5,000 cc, or 10 units, of blood. Losing a quarter or a third of it is "clearly in the danger zone."

"We knew where the injury was but didn't know if there was any other damage. That's why we had to perform the exploratory. He didn't have any other injuries.

"The kidney was the normal size but it was in pieces. The capsule around the kidney expanded. He should recover and live a normal life."

Getting better

Hospitalized for a week, Mark was released and confined to a wheelchair for two weeks. Last Friday, for the first time, he was back on the sidelines, in a wheelchair, to watch his teammates defeat Detroit Southeastern and advance to the Division 1 semifinals.

On Monday, for the first time, Susan Hanna said her son felt comfortable enough to sit at the kitchen table and eat with his family. He has yet to return to school, and won't until next month. A tutor has been assigned to come in twice a week to keep the junior abreast of his schoolwork.

"Mark gets tired easily," Susan said. "He gets winded. He's sitting all day long. He's beginning to walk around some now."

Hanna expects to complete the current semester. His strength is returning gradually. His appetite is growing again -- he's eating three meals a day.

But his playing days might be over.

Mark said he's heard of people playing with one kidney, but he likely won't be one of them.

"I wish I could still be out there," Mark said after watching his team play Southeastern.

"One thing when you have kids," Susan said, her words trailing off. "I don't think I'll ever be the same again. He's my son. It's not worth it. Don't you see? As a parent, I want him to play. I want him to play more than he does. I want him to do things.

"But if something happens to him, on the field, that's the end of me."