Waiting for Superman

I settled in on the couch to watch the Blackhawks take on the Flyers and from the first period I knew it was going to be an aggressive game. Brent Seabrook had already gone at it with Scott Hartnell leaving Seabs with a few stitches above his right eye.

I was twisting a piece of fabric of the blackhawks blanket the lay over me when I saw it happen. My hole heart stopped. And I jumped up from my seat.

The camera zoomed in on a lifeless Patrick,lying face first on the ice, in a pool of blood. Everybody seemed frozen. He wasn't moving, the Wells Fargo Center was dead silent. The Blackhawks trainer came flying out from the bench, the lump in my throat was growing and I felt the tears forming in my eyes.

"Get up Patrick, Patrick get up!" I shouted at the tv. Tears streaming down my face.
Why isn't he moving I thought to myself

I threw a sweatshirt on and headed down a level in the apartment.

Abby opened the door before I could knock, she immediately pulled me into a hug."Come sit down" she said. Motioning toward the couch. Patrick was still laying lifelessly on the ice. The trainers were strapping him onto a stretcher. By now, Abby and I both had tears streaming down our faces.

The Sharps oldest daughter, Madelyn approached from around the corner. "Mommy why are you crying?" she said wiping the sleep from her eyes. "Hi honey," She said putting Madelyn on her lap. "This is Kylie."

"Hi Madelyn" I said wiping the tears from my eyes and trying to smile at the little girl.

"Mommy is that Uncle Patrick." she said pointing at the large screen.

"Yes sweetie, Uncle Patrick has a booboo"

They kept replaying it over and over and over, and rewinding it in slow motion.

Patrick was rushing up the ice into the offensive zone, with the puck on his stick. Brayden Schenn seemed to come out of nowhere. Schenn's whole body seemed to go right through Patrick's, knocking his helmet off, and sending him directly into the boards, smashing his head off the pole between the bench and the referees box, knocking him unconscious.

Watching it made me cringe, and I could tell it made Abby cringe to.

"Oh no," Madelyn said as she watched her favorite 'Uncle' being carried of the ice looking lifeless. Tears streamed down the little girls face and she shouted, "I want Daddy!"

"It's okay, sweetie, Uncle Patrick's gonna be fine." Abby said trying to reassure the girl.

But we had no idea, we didn't know what injuries Patrick had, we didn't know anything I just wanted to scream.

The game went on but we barely watched. Patrick had been transported to a hospital and that was all we knew.

Madelyn eventually fell asleep clutching her teddy bear, Abby and I waited up after the game for a phone call.

About an hour after the game ended, Abby got a call from her husband.

"Abby?"
"Hi," She said. "Kylie is here with me, do you know how is?"
There was a long, long pause.
"he's a, he's in the hospital," Patrick managed to say through what seemed like tears. "They said it doesn't look good, but don't tell Kylie that." he said,
Abby's face seemed to drop,and Kylie knew it wasn't good news.
Abby cleared her throat and said, "I love you Patrick, let us know tomorrow."
"I will Abby, I love you, give the girls a kiss for me." Abby hung up and her eyes met mine.

She hugged me and said,"We just have to hope he will be okay."

My whole inside collapsed, and Abby and I fell asleep on the couch.

Notes