Comfort and joy

Today, the Watson family is celebrating a Christmas they almost lost.

When Deon Watson was hit by a car, he and his wife, Anna Watson, could not help but think that his job and their Christmas were in jeopardy.

Now, the former University of Idaho basketball star, who later went on to play professional basketball worldwide, sits as comfortably as possible with a rod and screws in his leg, thanking co-workers at URM Food Distribution that his children will have presents.

Last month, it appeared the holidays would be particularly grim.

On Nov. 11, the Watsons spent an evening out with friends.

“You see, the thing is, we never ever go out and so we couldn’t believe that this happened,” Anna Watson said of her husband’s accident.

Spending time at Mik-N-Mac’s bar in Coeur d’Alene, Anna Watson was approached by two young guys who happened to know her brothers from Mullan High School, where they played football, she said.

“They were giving me a bad time and then we got out into the parking lot and our friend was scared so Deon approached them,” Anna Watson said. “Then they hopped into their car.”

As Deon Watson stood by the car, the driver slammed it into reverse, hitting Watson with the open passenger door and dragging him 20 feet along the pavement, she said.

“I don’t remember much, but I remember rolling, and I rolled a few times,” he said.

Shocked and angry, his wife wanted to rush home, unaware that Watson’s leg had been run over by one of the tires. The driver has since been charged with hit and run, and more legal action is pending.

“I kept yelling, ‘Let’s go home! Get up!’ and he told me he couldn’t move,” Anna Watson said. “Then our friend said, ‘Uh, I think his leg is broken.’ “

At the hospital, doctors told the couple that Watson’s leg had been severely broken, and a rod was necessary to secure his tibia. The doctor said Watson could lose some mobility over the long-term, and most mobility in the short-term. He’s been unable to put weight on the leg since the accident, but is now in physical therapy.

A small surgical cut and patches of road rash scars dot Watson’s leg now – a reminder of the incident that altered his views of his relationships with people.

“The first thing I thought was that I had lost my job, because I had only been there six months,” he said.

On the teamsters union at URM, Watson spent his days on the swing shift, stacking pallets by hand and moving them with large equipment. With a broken leg, chances of even a remedial task at the warehouse seemed out of the question.The job in itself was a leap away from his 10 years as a professional athlete, traveling around Europe and South America as a well-known basketball player, making six figures and leaving his family for about eight months at a time.

What’s more is that in the decade he spent as a professional athlete, he never missed a game because of injury.

Standing at 6 feet 8 inches, Watson said he was easily noticeable in his new surroundings at URM.

“You know, walking around the place people are curious when they see me walking through. And a couple of them had some basketball teams, so of course they wanted me to play,” Deon Watson said.

And play he did.

Friendships arose from his weekends with the guys where he would shoot hoops in 3-on-3 tournaments. Watson said he met a lot of people on his shift, and saw a lot of people passing through when shifts changed.

But he never expected the guys at the warehouse to help his family when he could no longer work.

Several employees have donated their sick leave, vacation and float time hours to Watson, so he could continue to get a paycheck while he was injured, said Russ Kennedy, director of warehouse operations at URM.

“Four or five guys donated a day here or a week there for Deon,” Kennedy said. “One of our employees, who is about to retire, donated his entire sick leave bank to him.”

That sick leave bank gave Watson 10 weeks worth of leave, which would help to ensure that the bills would continue to be paid and the great insurance provided by the union would remain intact.

“What we did is not the norm,” Kennedy said, “but we did it for the guy Deon is and the kind of employee that he is. He’s a super guy.”

At Kootenai Medical Center, where Anna Watson is a lab technician, her supervisor told her she could have as much overtime as she wanted to help with the bills.

The people who care for their 4-year-old son, Anton, at Noah’s Ark Preschool, visited Watson at the hospital, bringing a food basket and offering to help in any way they could.

“We just didn’t expect that because he had only been going there for a couple of months,” Anna Watson said with a smile on her face as she brushed her daughter Haile’s hair.

Finally arriving at home, Watson said his three children; Deon Jr., 10, Haile, 8, and little Anton, were all a big help in the first few weeks when he could not move from the couch.

“When I got home, Anton asked me if I got hit by a car and I told him, ‘Yes I did son,’ ” Watson said. “And he asked me, ‘Did you look both ways, Daddy?’ “

The children helped out by bringing him things he needed, whether it was a glass of water or the television remote, to the couch where Watson said he found solace in football and basketball games.

“I picked a good time to get hurt, there’s so much college and pro basketball on right now,” Watson said, grinning. “But with them (the children) gone, I really felt helpless.”

Anna Watson’s brothers helped out around the house, cooking meals when she was at work and helping with the children.

“Everyone has just been so great, it’s just so amazing,” she said.

Deon Watson said he is thankful during this holiday season, for the employees of URM, because if it were not for them, his family would not know what to do right now.

“I never knew they felt that way, and those guys work hard out there,” he said.

“There’s no way we could thank them enough,” Anna Watson said.

Deon Watson has another doctor’s appointment on Jan. 11, when he’s scheduled to get a boot on his foot. From there, going back to work will still be six weeks away.