Border Mail |
IT was supposed to be just a typical Saturday afternoon for the Mannagh family.
Craig had taken his sons, Daniel, 21, and Cody, 14, and daughters, Ashleigh, 19, and Tyneesha, 10, to Walla for the football and netball while mum, Julie, packed the car early and headed to Canberra to watch Shaun, 15, play in junior representative trials.
Everything was going to script until about 4pm when Julie’s phone rang.
While there was nothing strange about Ashleigh ringing — she liked to keep her mother in the loop about the day’s happenings — this call was different.
Horribly different.
“Ashleigh was walking over to the footy ground after her netball was finished and must have looked out on the ground,” Julie said.
“She said someone was injured and then: ‘Oh mum, it’s dad’.
“We had joked about Craig doing a hammy or knee or something silly during the week because he really shouldn’t have been playing, but she rang back and said: ‘it’s serious’.”
The following couple of hours were the longest of Julie’s life as she drove back to Albury with all sorts of thoughts rushing through her mind.
Regular updates filtered through on the first-year Walla coach’s condition via family and friends but she knew by the tone of Ashleigh’s voice that he was in for a fight.
“Ashleigh went in the ambulance with Craig and that would have been hard,” Julie said.
The decision was made to put Craig into an induced coma and fly him to the Royal Melbourne Hospital as a result of the injuries he suffered in a horrific head clash with a Murray Magpies player.
The extent of the damage is still unclear but the Mannaghs have been buoyed by the fact that he was moved out of the intensive care unit and into the neuro ward yesterday.
“He’s a lot calmer and not as restless,” Julie said.
“He’s in a deep sleep but that’s the way they want it to be because there is so much swelling and three small bleeds.
“It could be another 48 hours before he’s respondent to everything.
“His body is telling his brain you need to rest.
“They are happy with his progress but it could be a while before we actually see how things are progressing.”
One thing Julie is certain about is the fact that he couldn’t have had better care from the moment the trainers at Walla banded together on Saturday afternoon.
She is overwhelmed by the support her family has been given by the sporting community.
“We have had our moments since Saturday like anyone would, but will just ride it through now and be guided by what the hospital tells us,” she said.
“There is a slight improvement, but nothing to be fully excited about yet.
“We aren’t sure what the damage is.
“It’s a small step in what’s going to be a long road.”
