We all want big news about Ryan Shazier — big, good news. Something tangible. Something that works as a framework for returning to some semblance of the life he led before spinal surgery.
That hasn’t come yet. What we’ve gotten about the Steelers linebacker over the last 17 days has always been small, and Thursday’s news wasn’t any different. It was incremental, non-specific, carefully worded, necessarily vague.
It was also positive.
“We have seen some improvement that is encouraging,” Shazier’s father, Vernon, told ESPN. “We’re taking it one day at a time. We do not know what tomorrow holds. It’s a [daily] journey we don't know. But I know God is getting the message.”
Vernon Shazier, an NFL chaplain and motivational speaker, said the outpouring of positivity and prayer from inside and outside football is “keeping us up.”
I’m currently in the toughest fight of my life. But I know God is in my corner. Therefore, I’m praying and fighting one day at a time.
— Vernon J. Shazier (@VernonShazier) December 21, 2017
🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🥊🥊🥊#StillShalieving#SolaFide pic.twitter.com/csKgzrScwS
“It’s easy to be faithful in a storm, but we’re not talking about a drizzle,” he told ESPN. “We're talking about a hurricane, a category 5 [hurricane], lots of metaphors to describe it.”
Shazier, as you’d imagine, said he couldn’t go into details. That’s understandable, if unsatisfying. The real updates will come from doctors. All anybody can do is hope that, whenever they come, they’re great. Until then, “encouraging” will have to be enough.
Sean Gentille: sgentille@post-gazette.com, Twitter: @seangentille
First Published: December 21, 2017, 8:26 p.m.
