Maxx Williams' Cousin Still Has Football Dreams After Boating Accident
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Mac Scheuble loves to fish, so that is where he was this summer.
He was fishing Lake Waconia with a buddy when a wave hit the boat, throwing him overboard.
"Kind of a blur," Mac said. "I just felt my knee just … I was in so much pain."
The prop had cut his knee, and it was deep. His mother, Vicki Scheuble, was there by the time they arrived at the dock.
"Instantly thinking, 'How are we going to do this with one leg? He's going to lose his leg,'" Vicki said.
When he awoke from surgery, he had a question.
"I asked my mom if I had all 10 toes," Mac said.
With friends by his side, he started to make his recovery. What he knew soon after was that he would not play football in his eighth-grade season, and that meant a lot.
Two of Mac's uncles played professionally, and his cousin, Maxx Williams, starred for the Minnesota Gophers before joining the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL.
"[Maxx] came in to visit him the next day at HCMC, you know, telling him how tough he is and telling him to hang in there," Vicki said. "That means a lot to a 13-year-old boy."
Maxx has been Mac's inspiration, sending him a video message.
"Hey Mac, I hope you're getting better after your accident, and I hope everything is getting better for you, you're getting stronger every day. Keep fighting, buddy," Maxx said.
Mac is getting stronger. Actually, it is miraculous that he is up and throwing around the football just three months removed from that day. He may not be 100 percent, but that does not matter right now.
"He can't look too far ahead of yourself, he can't think about the things he can't do this year. We got to think about what he can do and how far he's come, and that it's a miracle that he has a leg," Vicki said.
Mac hopes to return to the field wearing his cousin's number 88 again, but what he has learned is even greater than sport.
"I was pretty disappointed not to play football, but I'd rather not play football for a year and still have a leg," Mac said.
And his mother, father and sister have also learned that while football is important, it pales in comparison to real life.
"Is he going to be able to play quarterback? Is he going to be the starting linebacker? Funny how those things fall to the wayside," Vicki said. "And now what's important is, 'Is he happy?'"
