Finding Miracles When You Don’t Get the One That You Prayed For
By John Tiller
Twelve years ago, our lives changed instantly when our vibrant and healthy three-year-old son suffered a traumatic brain injury. He fell head-first from a second-story window onto the asphalt driveway at our home in Powhatan, VA.
Eli was med-flighted to VCU Medical Center and for the next three weeks doctors could not tell us whether our son would survive. All that they could do was to attempt to control the brain swelling that was threatening his life. My wife, Tricia, and I were devastated.
The accident received a tremendous amount of news coverage and thousands of people from around the world joined us in praying for our son’s life to be saved. Tricia and I are thankful every day that God answered our prayers and that our son is alive!
We needed a miracle … and God provided it. But it wasn’t the miracle.
For the last twelve years, we have prayed for the miracle of his complete healing. But that has not happened.
Now 15-years-old, despite more than a decade of the best therapy and treatment options available, Eli still suffers from a range of physical and cognitive effects of his injury.
Accepting life with disability has been difficult. As a father, one of the most challenging things to accept is that I can’t coach my son to play sports. Since before he was born, I had dreams of coaching him to succeed on the field.
Two years after the accident, Tricia told me that Eli had been invited to play baseball in a league for special needs kids. I was very skeptical and very resistant. The only thing worse than the fact that he can’t play ball, would be putting him on a field making him try to do the impossible. Setting him up for failure was wrong. I wasn’t going to allow it.
Thankfully, I was the one who was wrong. Eli just began his ninth year of playing baseball in the Miracle League. I’ve asked Eli to write for you about his experience:
From Eli:
What I really like about the Miracle League is that it’s a league where kids don’t fail at all. The league starts by coming to town and building a flat, rubberized field.
And every kid has a teen-age or adult buddy to help them play.
The only rules are that every kid hits, every kid gets on base, and every kid scores.
I sing the national anthem every time I go there.
I’ve really enjoyed hanging out with my teammates and getting to know a little more about them. My coach gives me the chance to play different positions.
When I get up to bat, I love it when the crowd cheers for me. When I hit the ball, it zooms really far and I feel happy!
When I go around the bases, some kids on the other team give me a high five! Then, I zoom into home base! I stop my chair and stomp on home plate!
I also love the coaches because they treat me really well there. It’s such an awesome league. This season is going really well and I can’t wait until my next game so I can play some more ball.
I’d like to tell Ms. Karen (Karen Pusey – Miracle League president and founder), “I can’t thank you enough for introducing me to this great league and I can’t wait to play again!”
As Eli’s father, I’d also like to thank Ms. Karen, and the coaches and buddies of the Miracle League for being the miracle for me and my son.
If you haven’t received the miracle that you’ve been praying for, keep looking. There may be another miracle waiting for you … a miracle that goes far beyond what you’ve asked.
Learn more about the Tiller family and their story of hope after tragedy at TillerFamily.org.
Learn more about the Miracle League of Richmond, including how you can be a part of the miracle at Miracle League of Richmond.