‘Every moment is a gift’

POST FALLS – It was only the third outdoor league soccer game Dave Miller had played in – and it changed his life.

Nearly six months ago, on May 21, the Post Falls man was filling in for the goalie during a recreation soccer game. At the beginning of the second half, a player from the opposing team went in for a goal. Miller went in for the save. And the player’s knee smashed into Miller’s head behind his right ear, cracking his skull with 21 fractures.

Miller, a husband and father of three, was in a coma for 12 days. Once he awoke, he had to relearn how to walk and do basic functions.

His recovery is considered miraculous, Miller said. This Thanksgiving, six months and a day from the time of his accident, he and his family say they have extra blessings for which to be grateful.

“I thought I lived a pretty thankful life before,” said Miller, 37. “You never really realize how appreciative you are of things until you don’t have them anymore.”

Miller, a pastor and financial representative for Northwestern Mutual, doesn’t remember much from that May day at Canfield Middle School. He can piece together the event from what others have told him.

Brooke Miller, his wife of 15 years, was playing on the field when an opponent rushed into a fast break.

“Dave dived, the guy kicked and his knee caught Dave behind the right ear. We all heard a big crack, and Dave kind of flipped over and just went into a fetal position right away,” Brooke Miller said. “I ran over and asked him, ‘Honey, are you OK?’ I never will forget the look in his eyes. It’s like he wasn’t there … and then he went into seizures.”

Someone fished his tongue from his mouth, unblocking his airway. Blood seeped from his ear and nose. His doctors later told him it was the worst temporal lobe break they had seen in a survivor.

For the first few days after the accident, the doctors didn’t know if he would live – or if he did, how much brain function he would have. He fought seizures, fever, pneumonia, a heart infection.

“At that point, we were hoping for the best, but we had no idea how it would turn out,” said Brooke Miller, 36. “You can’t help but think when you have three children that, is he going to walk her down the aisle? Will he be able to cuddle with them or tickle them?”

Ten days later, Miller began to respond, “and we started to get hope,” Brooke Miller said.

On June 1, he awoke.

“I didn’t know where I was or why I was there,” Miller said, “but I knew who everybody was.”

He couldn’t speak yet, but he started using sign language – a skill he picked up in junior high – to communicate. Then he began writing simplistic notes. Once he could speak, he had a message he wanted to share with everyone.

“I remember I wanted to communicate that every moment is a gift,” Miller said. “I’d tell people every breath is a gift.”

Later, he was transferred to St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute in Spokane. Brooke Miller remembers the drive along the freeway, following the bus transporting her husband.

She recalls thinking, “How long of a journey is he going to have to be able to do the things he loves to do?”

Gradually, Miller regained movement and use of his limbs. On June 22, his doctors sent him home. Miller, a triathlete and multisport player, refused to use a walker.

Driving home, everything seemed to play in fast-forward, he said. On an errand to Home Depot, he felt overwhelmed and exhausted.

He took naps several times a day.

Gradually, through intensive speech and physical therapy, he’s improved.

He’s now cut back to one day of physical therapy a week, along with a home routine. He’s gone back to work at Northwestern Mutual and is preaching at his nondenominational church, ONE, in Coeur d’Alene.

He finished speech therapy this fall, and stopped taking anti-seizure medications. He’s running more than a mile in 10 minutes.

Still, he continues to work on his balance and body awareness.

“I have scratches on my shins from bumping my legs,” Miller said.

His doctors say it can take a year or more before his brain heals completely.

He still takes naps, and his wife can tell when he’s wearing thin. His speech begins to slur, and sometimes people have asked if he has an Irish background or Midwestern drawl, he said.

“But I feel great. If I never got better physically than I am right now, I’m ecstatic,” Miller said. “So many people have to deal with a lot more than I have to deal with.”

His neurosurgeon told him there isn’t a medical explanation for how well he’s doing, Miller said.

“I believe a miracle happened to me,” Miller said. “But I honestly believe a miracle happened in the way I responded to it.”

Miller has met the soccer player who collided with him and told him that he doesn’t blame him. Miller also plans to play soccer again, when he’s able.

He and his wife are thankful for family, friends and community members who rallied around them. People visited Miller in the hospital, volunteered in Brooke Miller’s store, Beau Monde Exchange, and watched the couple’s children, Baylie, 9, Jaya, 4, and Cason, 13 months.

Four benefit events helped support the family during Miller’s hospitalization and helped contribute to medical fees. This fall, a local group hosted a “Kick for a Cause” soccer tournament, an event they hope to host each year for other families in need.

“Every day we definitely count our blessings,” Brooke Miller said, “and we have a lot of thanks for those around here.”