WARNING: THIS COLUMN CONTAINS A GRAPHIC IMAGE
As Dylan Thomas wrote: “ Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
And, of course, fight, fight with all your might. The Toronto Blue Jays are always good for this kind of life or death dilemma.
Anybody who thinks the Blue Jays are down for the count and facing extinction ought to talk to one of the team’s biggest fans, Neil Caulfield. He believes if you get knocked down, you get back up again — as fast as possible — and go at it again.
Caulfield knows what it’s like to be facing his last breath and believes that in order to get back up off the canvas, you need to fight hard and never stop believing.
He would know: In May, he was beaten to an inch of his life and put in a coma. Many believed he would never regain consciousness.
PLANNING FOR HIS FUNERAL
“My mother (Jean) was told to start making funeral arrangements,” Neil said Tuesday.
Peel Regional Police told The Toronto Sun it’s a miracle he survived. They saw he was victimized while walking along a Brampton street.
It only took a short time before officers arrested three people for firearms offences and one — Antwon Asamoah – was charged with aggravated assault. He is before the courts and is considered innocent unless proven guilty.
However justice works out, there’s no question Caulfield has been through hell and back.
The picture of him in that hospital room is terrifying. He was pummelled and suffered every injury a person could suffer.
KNOCKED HIM OUT WITH A GUN
“They knocked me out with a gun and thankfully I wasn’t shot.”
But he was left for dead. And death was close.
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“I was five days in a coma and two weeks in Sunnybrook ICU.”
After a while, he woke up, sat up, healed his extensive bruises and walked out of that hospital alive.
The Blue Jays were part of his therapy. With his late dad, Larry, he was always a big fan. This year he needed them more than ever. And they delivered.
Neil credits “talking with my dad” from his hospital bed with helping to give him the strength to rise again. His dad died in 2021 at 75 but has never really left his side.
They were both big fans of Rob and Doug Ford and all of Ford Nation and of the Blue Jays, which they often watched together.
This time Neil could hear his dad’s voice telling him to get back off the dirt and stand back up.
Now the Brampton native is back to work and can’t wait for evenings so he can watch the postseason Blue Jays defy the odds — like he did.
He is confident they will.
“On to the next one,” he said of his motto, adding the Jays one adopt it, as well.
Neil says no matter what happens to you, the best reaction is to get back up and to start living again.
