✽
ëéìíîïð ñîï òóð ôóòõ
ãäå æçèåéêåé
Blessed to be back after a traumatic event
that. He didn’t have a lot of
struggles in that area.”
Calvin has seen positives
as well.
“Sometimes I think my
memory isn’t that great,
but I proved myself wrong
on that,” he said. “There
was a time when we were
trying to memorize a
whole book of the Bible,
and I told myself I couldn’t
do it, and God told me oth-
erwise. He said, ‘You can if
you rely on me.’”
He memorized each of
↕➙ ➛➜➝➞➟➠ ↕➜➝➠
➡➢➤ ➥➦➧➤➨➩➤➨
Calvin Martin has com-
peted in a little bit of ev-
erything for the Imbler
➫➭➯➲➳➵➸➺ ➲➸➭➻➼ ➭➯➽ ➾➵➚➽
team during his prep ca-
reer.
The senior’s primary
events are the javelin, the
4x100 and 4x400 relays
and the 800. He took sev-
enth in the 800 a year ago
at state.
➪➶ ➲➳➵ ➲➸➭➻➼➹ ➳➵➘➺ ➺➴➸ -
prised himself with a
sharp memory, saying
he’s recently been able to
memorize large passages
of the Bible.
He’s involved in the lives
of people around him, be
it helping coach a junior
high basketball team, or,
as his mother Kelly Mar-
tin put it, using sports as a
way to minister to others.
And he’s engaged to be
married this summer.
All are accomplishments
he attributes to the grace
of God, and all are feats
that, about 3-1/2 years
ago, would have been
tough — if not impossible
— to imagine after he suf-
fered a brain hemorrhage
during his freshman year
of high school. It was an
event that took away many
of the activities he had
participated in for years
but opened up opportuni-
ties he otherwise may not
have experienced.
“We’re very, very happy
and thankful that he is
who he is today, and that
he can do the things he
does today,” his mother
said.
➷➬➬➮➱✃❐ ❒❮❰➮ ➬✃ÏÐÑ
Ò❮ÏÑÒÓ➷ Ô❮Õ
Calvin Martin said he
recalls most of the details
of the day the brain hem-
orrhage happened — Oct.
14, 2015.
“I remember going to
(football) practice. I re-
member having a headache
in the locker room,” he
said, adding he didn’t think
much of the headache, at-
tributing it likely to being
dehydrated and then tak-
ing some ibuprofen. “I re-
member drills, warm-ups. I
remember the drill we were
doing when it happened.
About where (my memory)
stopped was when I took
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According to an Octo-
ber 2015 Observer article,
Martin passed out on the
sidelines and after not re-
sponding was airlifted to
Walla Walla, Washington,
for emergency surgery to
remove a piece of his skull
and a clot from his brain.
He was then transferred to
Harborview Medical Cen-
ter in Seattle and later to
Seattle Children’s Hospital
for the early stages of his
recovery.
His memory of the
events following when he
passed out is, as he put it,
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✁
÷ ✁ ú ÷û ✆ ☎ ☎ ú ✁ ÷ ✄ ø ✆ ÷ü÷ ☎✞ ✟✠ ÷ ✡✄ üú ☎☛ ÷û ☞ úùù ☛ ✂ ÿ ✄ ü ✁✌
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“wishy-washy,” with most
of the details passed on to
him by family.
“My dad (Mike Martin)
told me when I woke up in
the (Walla Walla) hospital,
they actually had to put
something on me to hold
me to the bed,” he said.
“When I woke up I freaked
out. I was all over the place.
I was struggling to get out.
I woke up and didn’t know
where I was or anything. Of
course, I have no conscious
memory of this.”
He does have some
memories of events dur-
ing that time that were
more pleasant, including
an ambulance ride where
he shared laughs with the
medical team in the back,
and a visit from a Seattle
superstar.
“(Seattle Seahawks quar-
terback) Russell Wilson
visited me. That was pretty
cool,” Calvin said. “I re-
member he came up be-
hind me. He came up while
I was doing therapy. He put
his hand on my shoulder. I
got up and hugged him. It
was a cool experience.”
He instantly became a
fan, adding he made sure
to get a Wilson jersey,
which he still has.
His mom said the doctor
told them after the surgery
Calvin was fortunate, but
that there could be some
major complications from
the hemorrhage. At times,
Kelly admitted the family
wondered if her son would
lead a normal life again.
“There were times we
had a question in our
hearts about that, but
we’ve always looked at it
like what the doctor said
in the beginning, ‘Your
son is extremely lucky to
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ÞàÕáâÔãÓ
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çØÐ èØé
êëìíîïêíïððñ ò ìïóïï ôõ ö÷ø ò ùúûüýþ ÿ ✁✂
be alive,’” she said. “Even
when he woke up, they
prepared us that he may
not have the use of all his
extremities.”
The fears of that were
assuaged, though, through
a humorous moment af-
ter he awakened from the
procedure.
“We pinched his toes,
and asked if he could feel
it. He asked, ‘Why are you
pinching my toes?’” Kelly
said.
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ÑÜÑÛÕÔ❮Õ ➷➱ÒÑ
Calvin returned home in
November 2015. The early
stages of recovery were
a challenge, and he was
limited in much of what
he could do. Kelly said the
amount of tasks the brain
does are taken for granted,
and that was seen as Cal-
vin worked his way back
from the brain injury.
“You don’t realize how
many things your brain
is working on,” she said.
“When you’re sleeping, it’s
still working. Even watch-
ing TV or reading a book
is a challenge to someone
whose brain is bruised.”
Kelly said if Calvin did
too much he could get
nauseous and throw up —
and “too much,” in the ear-
ly stages, was as simple as
getting up too fast from a
chair or natural functions
like sneezing. Tasks had to
be slowly reintroduced.
“We had to learn to set
limits for him on his re-
covery and then gradually
allow him to continue on
with normal life,” she said.
Academics, for example,
when they were eventu-
ally worked back into his
schedule, were given to
him in small doses. Calvin,
who is home-schooled,
and part of the fourth, of
the book of James during
that challenge.
Calvin said some of his
perspectives have changed
as well, and his faith has
grown. He said he believed
in God prior to the hemor-
rhage, but that belief has
only gotten stronger.
“I have a great God. He
can pull you through any-
thing,” Calvin said. “Life’s
not easy. It sucks a lot of
times, but I say always look
toward him (and) look at
all the blessings through-
out your life. A lot of times
we can get down and focus
on the negative situations.
A lot of people would think
I would do that. God’s put
(it) as part of my life to
try and have joy through
everything. I’m blessed to
be here. I’m blessed to be
able to run still and do all
the things I do.”
Kelly added that part
of Calvin’s perspective
includes an empathetic
perception, which he had
previously, but that he had
to relearn after the injury.
“He recognizes things in
people that a lot of people
don’t. He’ll notice little
things about people who
➺➭➻➸á➾➻➵➹Ú ➺➳➵ ➺➭á➽Ù
Calvin also attributes the
injury — and God work-
ing through it — to open-
á➯â ➳á➺ ➵×➵➺ ➲Ø ➳á➺ ➾➭➯➻➵➵➹
Maddie Seggerman, whom
he will marry in July.
“My thought process on
that is if I hadn’t had the
brain problem, the surger-
ies and whatnot, that my
life would have been more
wrapped around myself,”
he said, adding that he’s
See Martin / Page 8A
✁✂✄☎✆ ✝✞✟✠✡
➺Ý➵➯➲ ➭➲ ➾➸➺➲ ➾Þ➵ ➲Ø ßà
minutes per subject before
taking a rest and mov-
ing to another subject. He
then built that up to 15
minutes per subject then
20, and so on.
“His day was really long,
but he was recovering at
the same time,” Kelly said,
adding that Calvin had to
study into the summer
that year and next as he
worked to catch up.
While there were several
additional struggles along
the road back to where he
is now, the family has also
seen many positives and
changes as his recovery
progressed, and Kelly said
Calvin has transitioned
smoothly into understand-
ing many of the facets of
being a young adult.
“He’s moved right into
that arena of young adult
life. It was a lot smoother
than we anticipated,” she
said. “We were thankful for
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