Horace Weaver had hoped not to make a hospital visit Dec. 7, 2006.
Weaver, chaplain of the Leroy High School football team, and his wife, Mavis, had prayed all the way from south Alabama to the Class 2A football championship game at Legion Field in Birmingham.
They were concerned over the possibility of their youngest son, Craig, suffering further injuries.
Craig Weaver, a senior at Leroy High, had suffered a near-debilitating stress fracture in his back during a previous game but insisted on playing in the championship game anyway.
That night, he not only stayed safe but was also instrumental in helping the Leroy Bears win the state crown.
In a strange turn of events, it was 43-year-old Horace Weaver who was fighting for his life that night instead.
At the stadium, he jumped over a partial barrier and misjudged the distance.
Though he made it to his seat in the stands, he began to experience tingling and paralysis in his arms and legs.
These symptoms were later determined to be caused by a neurogenic shock, very low blood pressure due to brain trauma.
He was rushed to Princeton Baptist Medical Center in Birmingham, suffering a heart attack during the ambulance ride.
"I didn’t know what to expect next," Mavis Weaver said. "But when I walked through the doors into Baptist Princeton hospital, I felt the Spirit of the Lord in that place. I know without a shadow of a doubt that God is there. Without the positive faith of the folks there … I think things might have turned out a lot differently."
She hasn’t returned home since that fateful night, staying by her husband’s side throughout the ordeal.
He was sent to HealthSouth Lakeshore Rehabilitation Hospital in Birmingham. He became sick and had to return to Princeton Baptist and is now in Lakeshore for the second time.
"Those two places are just like our home now," Mavis Weaver said.
Princeton Baptist helped with a free guest room, some meal tickets and other necessities, and Lakeshore has likewise provided a place for her to constantly monitor her husband’s progress.
He recently stood for the first time since suffering the injury.
"His story has garnered a lot of attention around here," said Princeton Baptist spokeswoman Jennifer Dodd, noting that hospital personnel were especially happy to help a family known for going out of its way to help others.
Regina Yarbrough, chief nursing officer at Princeton Baptist, agreed.
"When it was realized that he would need to be admitted and stay at Princeton for several days and that his family had no place to stay to be near him, we saw an opportunity to minister to them and help them just like we would try to help anyone who was in that same situation," she said.
Horace Weaver serves as bivocational assistant pastor of Rivers Baptist Church, McIntosh, in Washington Baptist Association, working also for McIntosh Waterworks in Leroy.
During his chaplaincy, "Bro. Horace," as he is affectionately called by the boys on the football team, has prayed for and with them and has seen numerous conversions to Christ.
"[O]ur faith is still strong," Mavis Weaver said. "We look to God for everything. We’re going to come through this. We cling to 1 Peter 1:7 … we know that good can come out of bad, that we can be tried by fire and come out stronger."
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