The guy drafted #12 in yesterday's NFL first round, was a few minutes from death last November

UPDATE: An interview with the Oakland GM, and why they took Hayden.

Amazing. A fluke injury - in practice ruptured his vena cava! This injury usually occurs in car accidents, and is 95% fatal.

A whole series of "fortunate decisions and outcomes" and he survived.

D.J. Hayden, the draft’s miracle story, probably should have died at Houston last November

Cornerback D.J. Hayden might go in the first round of this week's NFL draft. The football staff at the University of Houston can't believe he's alive.

They go through the checklist of fortunate decisions and outcomes that saved Hayden's life on Nov. 6. Hayden was hit on a fairly routine play in practice. He was drifting over to break up a pass. Safety Trevon Stewart jumped for the pass. His knee hit Hayden in the chest. Collisions like it happen regularly in full-pads football practices.

"It's a hit you see all the time," Houston's athletic trainer Mike O'Shea said.

"It was a routine play," Houston coach Tony Levine said. "It was a collision I've seen happen to the naked eye probably thousands of times."

O'Shea witnessed the hit and saw Hayden go to his knees and figured Hayden probably had the wind knocked out of him, perhaps fractured a rib. Or figured at worst, he injured his spleen. Nobody knew that Hayden tore a vein near his heart and was in serious danger of dying.

 

Here's where the Houston personnel starts listing all the crucial moments.

Hit the link for the rest of the story - it's a quick read.