Denver Native (Carol)
05-03-2011, 05:49 PM
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP)—Nate Irving, a middle linebacker from North Carolina State who was drafted by the Denver Broncos, can trace the exact date he turned the corner in his football career and his life.
It was the night 22 months ago when he fell asleep at the wheel and drove his SUV into a ditch and two trees, totaling his truck, breaking his body and nearly losing his life.
“I felt like God had better plans for me than to sit in that ditch and die,” said Irving, who sustained injuries that included a collapsed lung and a compound fracture in his left leg and was charged with careless and reckless driving after emerging from surgery looking like a half-wrapped mummy.
June 28, 2009.
“It’s not a reminder to me,” Irving said. “It’s a day I will never forget. It’s just part of my story. When someone asks what it’s about then I can share what I went through and maybe they’re going through something and realize that if I could make it through that, then they can make it through whatever they’re going through.”
Irving also keeps a photo of his crumpled Chevy Tahoe on his cell phone and an image of his mangled body etched in his mind from the time he first forced himself to look in the mirror at the hospital.
rest of article - http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-irvingssecondchance
It was the night 22 months ago when he fell asleep at the wheel and drove his SUV into a ditch and two trees, totaling his truck, breaking his body and nearly losing his life.
“I felt like God had better plans for me than to sit in that ditch and die,” said Irving, who sustained injuries that included a collapsed lung and a compound fracture in his left leg and was charged with careless and reckless driving after emerging from surgery looking like a half-wrapped mummy.
June 28, 2009.
“It’s not a reminder to me,” Irving said. “It’s a day I will never forget. It’s just part of my story. When someone asks what it’s about then I can share what I went through and maybe they’re going through something and realize that if I could make it through that, then they can make it through whatever they’re going through.”
Irving also keeps a photo of his crumpled Chevy Tahoe on his cell phone and an image of his mangled body etched in his mind from the time he first forced himself to look in the mirror at the hospital.
rest of article - http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-irvingssecondchance