Tom Parsons says he'll never forget a moment during Mayo training in 2019 when the panel applauded his return from a devastating leg injury which he had suffered during a Connacht Championship quarter-final against Galway the previous year.
"I was probably at the peak of my powers," the former Mayo midfielder says in his episode of TG4 series Laochra Gael which premieres February 16th at 9:30pm.
"I felt more confident in myself, and my attacking threat. I'd done a lot of work that year, and it was shown in the first 20 minutes.
"Then I found myself in a tackle with Eoghan Kerins, and bang, the unthinkable happens. I just remember glancing to my left and right for help, and seeing a number of players run in and putting their hands to their face, and turning away. I knew it was bad. I just remember the pain. The pain... I can't explain the pain that I was in.
"Carol (his wife) always said to me that if I was ever stretchered off, just make sure to put up my thumb to let them know in the stand that I'm OK. I was not OK, but coming in [I gave the thumbs up], and the whole crowd clapped.
"I had completely dislocated the leg in the wrong direction. There was significant damage done. I had ruptured my ACL, PCL, LCL, my popliteus, a calf muscle that came away from the bone. I had tears to my hamstring, quad - everything. I was black from my hip to my ankle."
13 May 2018; Mayo medical staff call for assistance for Tom Parsons of Mayo during the Connacht GAA Football Senior Championship Quarter-Final match between Mayo and Galway at Elvery's MacHale Park in Mayo. Photo by Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile
Carol, a physiotherapist, says she feared her husband could lose his leg.
"I have heard stories of full leg dislocations and the artery being blocked and it does not need to be blocked for too long before you lose the function of your leg," Parsons explained during a video call this week.
"Mine was blocked, they took off the boot and the foot was black. They had just set up a new system in Mayo to get me off the pitch very quickly. Had that happened in Belmullet during a training session on a Friday and there was a delay in getting the ambulance there, and that 40 minutes was two hours, it could have been a completely different story.
"I don’t consider myself lucky but I consider myself fortunate that the medical care was there. That is why it is really important that there are emergency plans of action in place as reasonable as possible for all major games because these things can happen and time is of the essence but with my injury they got me in there to Castlebar University Hospital and they operated immediately."
"I was probably at the peak of my powers", Tom Parsons on his injury in 2018.
Níos mó ná bliain a thóg sé teacht ar ais ón ngortú.
🏐 Tom Parsons 🟢🔴
📅 Déardaoin
⏰ 21:30
📺 @TG4TV@MayoGAA @CharlestownGAA @TomParsons_8 #LaochraGaelpic.twitter.com/lag69ruRMT— Laochra Gael (@Laochra_Gael) February 14, 2023
Initially, a doctor told Parsons that he would never play football again.
"The plan was to get a CT scan to see if I'd done nerve damage, and would I regain function of my leg," Parsons says during the Laochra Gael episode.
"I'll never forget this moment that this doctor came into the ward, picked up my chart, and I wasn't expecting an answer but I said, 'Hey, doc, when will I be able to run again? When will I be able to play?' He came over, put his hand on my chest and said, 'My friend, this is like a car crash injury. You'll never run again, you'll never play. This is your reality'."
'It's so precious to be able to put on that Mayo jersey'
However, a subsequent MRI revealed there was no permanent damage.
"After the second surgery, things got a bit more exciting," Parsons says.
"I was getting to a gym, doing stability work, more strength work. What I remember after the second surgery was being given the green light to go into the gym, but failure after failure after failure. Try this exercise, fail. Try this exercise, fail. Try this exercise, fail. That was really disheartening.
"One of the scariest moments in the journey was being asked to jump and land on one leg. It was a two-inch jump. That was more scary than running out onto Croke Park.
9 June 2018; Tom Parsons of Mayo, accompanied by his wife Carol Hopkin, receives a standing ovation from supporters upon his arrival prior to the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Round 1 match between Limerick and Mayo at the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick. Photo by Diarmuid Greene/Sportsfile
"On a journey like that you have to celebrate all the small wins. That kept us motivated, that we were seeing progress all the time. Every week, the confidence grew a little bit because we were nailing another jump, lifting a heavier weight, moving that bit faster, and we were recording it on our phones, and with our coach. By the time running came, that was the easy part.
"The most significant moment for me in that recovery was a training session in Tooreen before the All-Ireland series. In that training session, Andy Moran stood up and just said, 'Lads, can we just respect and acknowledge what our teammate has done'. All the lads just clapped. It was that recognition and acknowledgement from the people I respected most in sport and football. That was just an incredible, magical moment for me. It's a moment I'll never forget.
"If you offered me an opportunity to wind back time, that injury didn't happen and you were back to the peak of your powers like you were in 2017... 'Do you want to take the ticket, Tom?' I'd say no thanks.
"This is a part of me, this is a journey that I went on. I had made peace with the fact that maybe one of the possible outcomes is that I don't play with Mayo again. I had already experienced that at 22, and I had dealt with those demons and had balance in my life. With or without football, I had an amazing wife and family, a career, passion, that balance in life."
Parsons made his comeback in the 2019 All-Ireland semi-final against Dublin, coming off the bench for the last 20 minutes.
"I always said to myself that if I work for 12 months, give it my all, and all I do is play for 10 minutes, wouldn't that be an amazing story to tell my kids, tell my teammates, and encourage the next generation of players?" says Parsons.
"It's so precious to be able to put on that jersey, and represent your county."
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