Jonah’s Journey – 1st Soccer Game since Open Heart Surgery!

Jonah’s Journey

As most of you know our 13-year-old son, Jonah, had open heart surgery February 23, 2017. He had a very rare congenital heart defect that we just found out about in December.  He actually is only the 6th person in the world with this condition.  

Thursday he was six weeks postop and was officially released to be able to begin soccer practice again. That means he only got two practices in and they had a game today.

His cardiologist, Dr. Suarez, gave him permission to play this weekend. I can tell you I had so many mixed feelings about today; worry, excitement, fear, joy – pretty much any emotion you could think of.  Jonah has such a passion for soccer that I knew how excited he was so I tried not to show my concern.

Ameer and Jonah 

When we got to the field today, we were able to pray over him and just ask for God’s blessing and hedge of protection over him and his entire team. To see Jonah’s eyes light up during warmups was priceless, but I still as anxious.  I just knew how excited he was.  

Jonah on the left wing 

The coach started him on left wing and when I saw him on the field for the first time since surgery my eyes filled with tears. Tears of Joy for the blessing that Jonah is. Tears of joy for the warrior that he is. Tears of joy because he has overcome so many obstacles since birth and still remains faithful. 

Jonah waiting the play out 

Jonah has always been one of the fastest, if not the fastest player on the field. Today, not so much. I could tell after 5 minutes into the game Jonah was exhausted. I saw the coach ask him if he was okay and Jonah nodded yes, but about 10 minutes into the first half, I saw he looked over at coach and knew he was too tired and needed to be taken out.  I was worried, is he having chest pain?  Is he okay?  

Love my #22

I just felt sad and worried. I know he is only six weeks postop open heart surgery, but I have never seen Jonah like this before. I could tell he was disappointed that he was so exhausted. So being the worry wort that I am, I text Dr. Suarez just for reassurance. I was concerned; was it okay that Jonah was that tired already?

Honestly, I was embarrassed to text him, but I just needed to “know”. I needed to hear it from him.  He responded almost immediately that he expected that. He told me that Jonah had not been conditioning, because of just having surgery, and we just need to give it time. Of course, that made me feel better. BUT my heart still hurt for him, because I knew Jonah was disappointed.

Jonah in the mix of it for the second half 

The second half started and the coach let Jonah know that he was going to play him the last 20 minutes and play him up top. The second half for Jonah was much better. He seemed to get his “mojo” back. He still looked tired, but seemed more relaxed and more like “the Jonah” we know. He even had a couple shots on net and almost scored one, but the goalie had a great save.

After the game it was cute to watch his teammates all talking to him. I even heard them telling Jonah how much they wished he would have scored and if he did, they were going to go “crazy”.

We have been so blessed by this team – the Michigan Wolves-Hawks Soccer Club. These boys have all become such good friends and really look out for each other.  It has been such a great support system not only for Jonah but for our entire family; from the club, to the coach, to his teammates, the parents, etc.  We know God was instrumental in Jonah playing for this club.  

When we got in the car Jonah said he was so glad to be back on the field, but he knew his was “off today”. We got home and he asked Jamie to go over to the field with him so he could practice.

Jonah has so much dedication to this game. He wants to excel and puts everything he has into the game. I could not be more proud of him. For his determination and resilience.  I know it will take time but I cannot tell you how AWESOME it was to see him back on the field doing what he loves – PLAYING SOCCER!!

Again, thank you all for your love, support, and prayers. You guys mean the world to our family.

GOD IS GOOD. . . ALL THE TIME!!

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