My name is Patrick Johnson. I am or was the back up quarterback at Morgan Academy; a small private school in Selma AL. I’ve always been someone who wants to fit in with the group and do things that others say isn’t the best idea. I’ve always been this double sided person. I play football I’ve always played because my friends did. On August 23rd 2024 my life changed drastically. It’s the first game of the football season and we’re getting ready to play our first game and I’m expecting to sit out and watch Caden Tellier play. Caden was a great guy, he didn’t care what people thought about him, he loved every single one of his teammates, and more importantly he loved Jesus. He was a grade ahead of me and was at the start of his junior year.
We all loved him and he led our team. I’ve always had a weird feeling about watching him play football. I always think he’s gonna get injured and he’ll get rocked and get right back up. We had our locker room time before the game and were excited for the game thinking it would be a blowout win. We started off strong getting the lead but they came back and scored right before the half to make it 14-8. We were ready to play the second half and they came down and scored and made it 16-14 them. At about 5 minutes left in the 3rd Caden rolled out of the pocket and took off running. I always had a nervous feeling when he took off thinking he’d get rocked but on this particular play he didn’t. He almost broke it lose but someone grabbed him by his ankle and he twisted and fell hard on his head. I saw him slow to get up and he said he needed a minute and I thought he had gotten the wind knocked out of him.
The last words I heard him say were I feel dizzy. I immediately thought dang it are you kidding me, he has a concussion who knows how long he’ll be out this season. The coaches helped him to the sideline while we punted the ball back to them. I kept looking back in the corner of my eye at him laying down. Something looked off. The other team had punted when I was about to go out there. Then they paused the game and I see people rushing to him. He was unconscious. We had no idea how serious it was and prayed while the ambulance came. We continued the game and something hit me to do this for him. We scored and then they scored giving them a 22-20 lead. We didn’t score the next drive but forced a safety tying the game. We then went down and scored a touchdown to give us the lead and we started to get heart to win. Immediately they got down to the five yard line with 5 mins left in the game. But we weren’t playing this game for ourselves, we were playing for him. Our defense held strong for 4 plays stopping them on the 1 yard line. We drove down the field and chewed the clock out. We did it, we won! We did it for him. I was on top of the world. I thought the whole town was going to be so proud and so would Caden. I wanted to tell him all about it. We were screaming jumping up and down running to the locker room. We celebrated with Coach Webb and then Coach Thomas came in. He told us he had an update on Caden. He told us he had a serious brain bleed. We were all worried but didn’t know the extent of the injury. He told us to pray he makes it through the night. The words felt like a bullet to the chest.
It’s indescribable how it felt. I came out of the locker room and had zero care in the world about the game. I cried and hugged my parents. I still believed he would be fine just never play football or any sports again. We talked about going to see him and check on him in Birmingham the next day. The next morning I woke up and saw my parents sitting on the foot of my bed both crying. My dad rarely cries. I’ve seen him cry 3 times: the day nana died, whenever he watches that one midnight scene where the daughter is talking to her father outside the night before her wedding from the movie Father of the Bride 
, and the day Claire moved off to college which was just weeks ago. I knew something bad had happened but I wasn’t fully sure what is was. They said they don’t think he’s gonna make it. Then it clicked I had to think twice about who they were talking about. It can’t be Caden. No Caden’s too young. He’s strong. I was in denial. Sure enough it was him. He was brain dead and was going to need a miracle. He was going to be an organ donor. The day was hard but it felt unreal. Around 3:30 the news was true and he was officially with the Lord.
Most of the high school met up and brought flowers to the school. We prayed and loved on his girlfriend. I had questions about life. Why him, why not me, why did he deserve it out of anyone in the world. While sitting in the locker room standing next to his locker I had a sudden peace. It’s an unexplainable feeling. I went home and went to sleep. Sunday was the hardest day. I had lots of hugs and love shown at church. There was going to be a gathering for Caden at Spur’s house. There was also going to be an honor walk at the UAB hospital for him. I didn’t want to go to the walk. I couldn’t bear to see his body like that. I was planning on going to Spur’s when something told me I should be there for his family and that he would do the same thing for me. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life. I’m so glad I went though.
Caden was there for me when I needed him. He was the first person I’d talk to before I’d go in and when I’d go out. He was there for me every step of the way when he was out for a few weeks last year. There’s not a soul that didn’t love him.God sent us an angel for 16 years that we didn’t deserve. Satan tried to get this to tear our school apart but all it has done is make us stronger. No matter what, I will always consider myself QB2 because you will always be my Quarterback. I love you #17 and I will never forget the impact you had on my life. 
