Local High School Football Player Gets Big Welcome Home After Suffering Brain Injury

LAKE OF THE PINES (CBS13) - A local high school football player is recovering from a traumatic brain injury that could have left him paralyzed, or worse. He was welcomed home tonight – two weeks after the incident.

"Oh, here he comes!"

As his SUV arrived home, his waiting teammates huddled up for hugs.

"What's up buddy?" said a teammate.

It was the first embrace after so much uncertainty.

"When he wasn't getting up I was thinking the worst," said a teammate.

The Bear River High School football team has never experienced a win like this before -- after Toran Maronic nearly lost his life.

"You know, he's suffered a severe, severe brain injury," said Dave Maronic, Toran's father.

Toran's dad shared pictures on Facebook during Toran's hospital stay. First, he was in a medically induced coma. Days later, he was able to text. Then he learned to balance again.

Toran landed head-first on the football field while at a camp with teammates. He suffering a traumatic brain injury in a freak accident playing two-hand touch. Toran's dad described his son questioning doctors before leaving the hospital

"And then he looked at them all and he said. 'Am I a miracle?' And of course, it brought tears to all of our eyes…because they all said absolutely 100 percent, you are a miracle," he said Dave.

It's a miracle with an emotional homecoming. Toran's first stop at home? Bed, where he got even more attention.

"I saw all my friends, all my friends, and family and I was just amazed," he said. "It feels like an honor, to know that I've affected this many people, and this greatly."

He was surrounded by people he always knew loved him, and now he knows how much.

Doctors won't let Toran play football again. His brain is still healing. His parents say they've never been so happy to see their son able to text.