San Diego Charger Travis Johnson Faces Offseason Tragedy

Usually the ruling trend in the NFL is "just business." Whether it be a holdout or a player departing, taking a cool distance helps to keep athletes within their megalithic status.

Occasionally, however, events turn that force a humanization. For defensive lineman Travis Johnson, this offseason has unfortunately become about much more than who will or won’t be wearing bolts and blue next year.

Two weeks ago Johnson’s four-year-old daughter Zoe was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia. Not long after being admitted, his daughter suffered a seizure followed by a stroke that caused paralysis in the left side of Zoe’s body.

The lung on the other side of her body was immediately operated on to drain fluid and attempt to scrape away some of the infection from the lung wall. Instead of clearing her breathing however, the lung collapsed and Zoe suffered a second stroke.

“The last two weeks have been the worst 14 days of my life,” Johnson said. “Nothing else even comes close to this.” 

Doctors are still scrambling to find the answers while Johnson is forced to wait.

“It’s really a helpless feeling,” Johnson said. “Our job as parents is to protect our kids. Watching her go through this is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.” 

He has hardly been out of the hospital since Zoe’s admittance, trying his best to fit a lineman’s body in a hospital chair and attempt some semblance of sleep.

Although his name is not among the more well-known of San Diego’s players, he has been witness to the support of an embracing San Diego community, and has asked that people keep their prayers coming.

“I’m still so new to this Charger family but the love that has come out of the Charger family for this child, for me, and for my family has been wonderful,” Johnson said. “I’m so grateful for everybody’s prayers and all the nice things people have said.”

“I just want her to wake up and talk to me,” Johnson went on. “I know rehab is going to be a long road, but she’s going to be ready for it because she’s so tough. The Lord is going to heal her and bring her out of this, but it’s just so tough right now.”

In an offseason where certain team partings appear to have become slightly more contentious than they should be, situations like these put true importance into perspective, and gives us solemnity as fans usually accustomed to filling our weekends with raucous cheers.