It was just an ordinary day last December for Mark Toothaker. He worked at Spendthrift Farm, went to the gym and settled in at home in Lexington, Kentucky, to watch the on 鈥淢onday Night Football.鈥�
He never expected what came next.
Watching from bed alongside his wife, Malory, who was reading a book, Giants kicker whiffed on a field goal attempt in a real-life scene reminiscent of in the 鈥淧eanuts鈥� cartoon. Rewinding and Toothaker laughed so hard it caused a seizure.
鈥淚鈥檝e never felt anything like this in my life,” Toothaker recalled. 鈥淚 felt like I got electrocuted.鈥�
Malory happens to be a nurse at a rehabilitation hospital working for a brain-injury doctor. After initially thinking her husband was joking, she called 911 and paramedics arrived to get him to a hospital.
A CT scan revealed a tennis-ball-sized tumor on the left side of his brain. “When you hear the news, 鈥榊ou鈥檝e got a brain tumor,’ that鈥檚 what nobody wants to hear,鈥� Malory said.
Toothaker was transferred to the University of Kentucky’s hospital, where the tumor was surgically removed and turned out to be benign. He was home by the end of the week with no lasting damage. On Saturday, he will be at the Churchill Downs as Spendthrift Farm-owned Further Ado is .
He is thankful for that missed kick.
鈥�(The) kicker saved my life because it could鈥檝e happened any other time,” Toothaker told The Associated Press in a phone interview. 鈥淚 wholeheartedly believe I was in the right spot at the right time, and he was the trigger for that happening. It was a miracle.鈥�
Toothaker, 59, had no symptoms and no idea the tumor had moved his brain 6 millimeters to the right. In the months before his seizure, he had driven and flown all over the country as part of his job as stallion season manager, including the previous Saturday to Louisville to see Further Ado win the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes.
鈥淚 could have had it on a plane, anywhere,鈥� Toothaker said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 kill anybody. I didn鈥檛 run over a family in my Expedition running up and down the road. I guess that would鈥檝e been the hardest thing for me to live with if somebody would鈥檝e got hurt out of this. Believe me, as tough as that thing was, as violent as that seizure was, I have no memory of it and I would find it hard to believe that I wouldn鈥檛 have hurt somebody or hurt myself if I would鈥檝e been behind a wheel.鈥�
Toothaker made it a point to watch because he has been friends with then-Giants receiver Wan’Dale Robinson’s dad, Dale, for a long time. the first player 5-foot-8 or shorter to surpass 1,000 yards receiving since 1989 and from the Tennessee Titans.
Toothaker said he would love for the 31-year-old Koo 鈥� once the most accurate kicker in league history 鈥� to be his guest at the Derby, recognizing that the miss is not exactly a career highlight. Koo, who was released two weeks after the game, did not respond to messages from AP for this story.
鈥淚 know it wasn鈥檛 his best moment, but it was beyond crazy,” Toothaker said. 鈥淔or she and I to be belly-laughing at his expense, which I feel terrible about now, but it all worked out in the end, that for me it couldn鈥檛 have been a better moment.鈥�
Malory Toothaker said things are very normal for her husband now.
“So many people aren鈥檛 that fortunate,鈥� she said. 鈥淩eally the first indication that he had a problem was the seizure 鈥� and to be in your own bed at home, not behind the wheel of a car or traveling, you鈥檙e just so humbled and feel so blessed and just fortunate that if this had to happen, it was the best-case scenario.鈥�
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