Wow! It turns out former NFL wide receiver Mike Williams is NOT dead!
Last week, reports surfaced that the athlete was pronounced dead on Tuesday after suffering a serious head injury while performing electrical work at a construction site in Florida on August 21. That news came according to the New York Post and several other outlets. But now the Tampa Bay Times is confirming the ex-Buccaneers player is ALIVE — and showing encouraging signs of life amid a very difficult condition.
Per the outlet, the 36-year-old was placed on life support at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa for several days. But there’s good news! His baby momma, Tierney Lyle — with whom he shares an 8-year-old daughter, Mya Williams — confirmed he has been responsive after being taken off a ventilator on Thursday night. She also recalled how a friend played one of Mike’s highlight videos in the hospital for him and he smiled. That’s great progress — especially after we all thought he’d tragically passed away!
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Speaking to Buffalo’s WIVB-TV about the former Buffalo Bills star, she said:
“He goes hard in everything he does.”
She asked for continued prayers along his recovery, adding:
“He doesn’t give up easily at all.”
The footballer is also dad to a 10-year-old son, Mike Jr. We’re sure all his family members have been worried sick throughout this scary ordeal.
According to two people who spoke to WIVB, Mike’s head injury was not initially considered to be life-threatening after he was hit in the head with a beam, but on September 1, things took a turn for the worse. He was hospitalized at the start of the month and put in an induced coma after a laceration caused by the injury became infected.
His father, Wendell Muhammad, previously revealed this in a post on GoFundMe, where he is raising money for “travel expenses” so he can go visit his son. In the message, he said Williams lost consciousness last week due to “swelling in his brain and swelling on his spinal cord that was ruptured.” The injuries “resulted in complete paralysis in his right arm as well as his lower body from the waist down.” So devastating.
As of Saturday, he is still in the intensive care unit, via the Times. We will be praying for him and his loved ones.
[Image via Alexandra Vitale/Tampa Bay Times/YouTube]
