As Casey Woods’ rental car skidded to a halt on Interstate 70 near Odessa, Missouri, he immediately looked into his rearview mirror, straining to see if any vehicles were approaching. All he could see was white. His heart sank as he realized if he couldn’t see incoming traffic through the blizzard, they probably couldn’t see him, and their chances of stopping in time were not good.
“I immediately thought ‘oh shit,’” Woods said. “And so I'm sitting there with my hands on the (steering wheel), and then boom.”
Sure enough, an 18-wheeler had tried to slam on its brakes but lost control and jackknifed. The truck slid into Woods’ car, causing him to spin 180 degrees so that he faced into traffic. Woods scrambled out of the car, initially scared that he might get hit again, although by that point everyone had come to a stop. With his car too damaged to drive, all he could do was stand on the side of the highway as the snow continued to fall and wait for a state trooper and tow truck to arrive.
Speaking to reporters via Zoom last week, Woods acknowledged he was lucky. His only injury was a minor case of whiplash.
Still, the accident likely would have ended the travel day for most people. Not Woods, at least not on this day. Missouri tight end Daniel Parker Jr. was in a Blue Springs hospital recovering from an emergency surgery to combat an eye infection. Woods, Missouri’s newly-hired tight ends coach who at that point had never met Parker in person, had promised Parker he would visit him in the hospital, and he intended to keep that promise.
“I told him I was gonna be there,” Woods said. “It was important. There was a lot of uncertainty at that time, and specifically for him. Every time there was supposed to be news, like, okay, this is gonna alleviate what's going on, well then there was more bad news. Okay now this bad thing’s happened, Now this bad thing’s happened. ... And then all of a sudden it became something to the point where coach (Eliah Drinkwitz) and I were like, man, we just got to go see him.”
Just a few days before he was rushed into surgery on his eye, Parker’s only ailment was a toothache. According to a story in the Examiner of East Jackson County, Parker got a root canal to relieve the tooth pain on Jan. 4. The dentist told him the tooth had been infected, and to keep an eye on it.
By the next day, the infection had spread to Parker’s eye. Doctors had to cut away his eyelid in order to relieve the pressure — while Parker remained awake. He later underwent a second surgery. Doctors told him that not only could his football career be in jeopardy, he might lose his eyesight.
It was when he found out Parker needed a second surgery that Woods decided he needed to visit Parker in person. He had planned to fly out of Kansas City to attend a coaches’ convention the following day, so it made sense to stop in Blue Springs on the way and meet Parker. But Woods, an Alabama native who previously coached at UAB, hadn’t accounted for the weather. He said he hadn’t seen snow in about two years prior to moving to Missouri in December.
After being hit by the truck, Woods caught a ride with his tow truck driver to a gas station in Odessa, about 20 miles from Blue Springs. He planned to ask for a lift from there to a truck stop about 10 miles away in Oak Grove, figuring if he could get that far, he could hitch another ride to Blue Springs. When he arrived at the gas station in Odessa, he announced that he would offer $100 to anyone willing to drive him to Oak Grove.
“I mean, it was pouring snow and it was miserable, and you can imagine, somebody walking into a gas station and saying that in Odessa, that’s like walking in there and saying something you shouldn’t,” Woods said.
None of the gas station patrons took Woods up on his offer, but luckily for him, the clerk’s shift ended in about 15 minutes, and he offered to drive Woods all the way to Blue Springs. He didn’t want Woods’ money, either. Woods said he filled the stranger’s gas tank and bought him a case of water in payment, though his tone suggested that water might have been infused with hops and barley.
“I did fill up his gas tank and bought him a case of water,” Woods said with a smile. “A case of water, of course.”
Parker awoke from his surgery to find Woods in the hospital. His eyesight had been saved, but he saw everything in double and had to wear special glasses. Doctors weren’t sure when or if the double-vision would recede. Then, about a month ago, Parker tweeted that his vision had returned to normal, affirming that he would be able to return to the football field in 2020.
In the Examiner, Parker called his recovery “a real miracle.” Speaking to reporters last week, Drinkwitz used the same word.
“Remarkable, miracle, blessing, incredible story,” Drinkwitz said when asked about Parker’s recovery. “He's put a lot of work into it, lot of prayer. I know it’s been a lot of not good times. He's had to practice mental toughness, he's had to really work and had to face some scary situations of possibly not playing this game anymore and fight through it, stay positive and trust and believe.”
Parker shied away from talking about his eye infection when he spoke to reporters on Wednesday, but he did say that the ordeal made him more appreciative both for the opportunity to play football and for smaller things that he previously took for granted — things like being able to see.
“Every day when I wake up, I just thank God for my five senses, I thank God for continuing to bless me for 24 hours,” Parker said. “Like today I saw coach (Brick) Haley come out of my peripheral vision, and it was just like, a couple months ago I wouldn’t have been able to see you. That’s one of the things that just continues to bring smiles to my face and continues to brighten my day.”
The experience also made Parker grateful to have Woods as his position coach. Woods’ visit to the hospital laid the foundation for a relationship Parker described as “good and trustworthy.”
While Woods’ visit may have surprised Parker, especially given the circumstances, Woods downplayed the trip, saying Parker endured far worse. Plus, once he had told Parker he would visit, he was going to be there, even if it meant braving a blizzard, persevering through a car crash and hitchhiking.
“I don't know that in the moment, that it ever struck me as being out of the ordinary that I got in a car accident and then I hitchhiked my way into Kansas City to a hospital to see him,” Woods said. “You know, I told him I was gonna be there. It was important that I was there for him to know that we cared about him.”
