Bear Vision

Spencer Scholtz (driving) and brother Sam Scholtz on their first day of school at

Palmetto Ridge High School- 2014

If you have not recently heard or read, my nephew Spencer Scholtz was recently blinded in his left eye due to an injury caused from a football play at Palmetto Ridge High School. It was August 22nd, the first game of the year if I recall.  We were all pumped up about it, as we had invited all our friends and family to come and watch him play. Yeah! Go Bears!

So we thought…
Once the game began,  I think it was just a few plays in, I saw Spencer come up from a play, holding his hand over his eye. He had taken his helmet off by then and was walking towards the sidelines where he met up with a field medic. As I observed from the bleachers, I just figured it was a small hit and he would be fine. The medic looked up into the bleachers as I waved towards her. She immediately waved us to come down. I called over to Mary and she went right to him. Next thing you know, Mary and Spencer were walking off the field towards the ambulance. Again, I didn’t jump off my feet and run to them. I really thought he was going to be fine.

Well I was wrong. After the ambulance crew checked him over, they sent Spencer and his parents to North Collier Hospital. His eye was bleeding and he could not see anything.

Apparently what happened during the play, one the players, number 54 of the Cypress Lake High School, jabbed his finger into his eye.  Now I am going to be honest with you as I am very much so in every blog I write, but I have looked this play over and over, and it doesn’t look like any accident to me. But who am I to say. I am no expert, but I see what I see, and I call it like I see it.

What’s even more frustrating is the fact that this Cypress Lake varsity football player is not even on the roster, nor on the Cypress Lake online football roster? Who is this kid? We would like to know. Not only for an apology, but just to know who did this to Spencer? You would think this kid would like to know what he did as well.

The following week, my sister Mary made a call into the Principal of Cypress Lake. Mary wanted to know who this number 54 is on the football team.  Unfortunately, the Principal told her she had no idea who this boy was and she apologized for not knowing. And to this day, with calls into the school, they have yet to answer.

Well I want to know!  Who is number 54 at Cypress Lake High School? And why is he not only nonexistent on the paper roster I hold in my hand, but on their website too?  This all seems to strange?
Since this accident, Spencer, along with his parents Mary and John Scholtz, have been doing whatever they can to save Spencer’s eye. After they sent him home from the hospital that late Friday night, his next appointment wasn’t to come until Tuesday of the following week.

Are the doctors crazy we thought?!  There is no time to wait 4 days and see how it goes. The kid is bleeding from his eye and in pain!

After some long discussions with friends over the phone and the realization that there is no time to wait, the eye needed to be saved as quickly as possible. Come Saturday night, they found a doctor out of Sarasota who was willing to see him immediately. What that doctor could not understand is with so many good doctors in Naples, why are they waiting until Tuesday to see him again?  By then, yet another doctor was also ready to see him too, and that was a doctor out of the Miami.

On Sunday morning they headed over to the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute of Miami. The news was not good. The optic nerve was severed and retina was detached. More than likely Spencer will never see again. They stayed a couple more days and were given the possibility of surgery to re-attach the retina through an extensive surgery.

And I have to admit, through all of this, my nephew is handling this like a pro. Thank God the kid has the heart and soul that will not allow this to ruin his life.  But it just breaks my heart too. Why him? Why my sister and yet another blow to her family? I feel for them in every way. And Mary and John if you read this, I love you more than you could ever imagine, and I will be here every step of the way.  For not only you, but your family too.

Since the accident, it has been all over the news. The first on airing on September the 4th. On this NBC news clip, they did a good job on the story with the exception of some things I disagree with.  Also in this clip, she said our schools do not provide eye shields. They said players can buy their own, as they cost $60.

NBC2 Story-
http://www.nbc-2.com/story/26452954/blind-in-an-eye-student-sets-sights-on-helping-others#.VBMq_haOok8

But now a new story from Fox 4 has a changed tune.  Since the airing of this first story by NBC, Fox 4 were told by Collier schools that they supply eye shields for players for free upon request.
Oh really? Why the change of tune? Since when does Collier County provide shields? This kind of gets me a little upset? I looked everywhere for anything that documents this information and I came up with nothing. What gives?  Here’s that story.

FOX4-
http://www.jrn.com/fox4now/news/Naples-teen-loses-sight-but-not-vision-to-help-others–274162311.html

Since then, and I have an 11 year old playing football, all the eye shields in Collier and Lee Counties are sold out!  If they were free, we wouldn’t have this problem.  So I , Annette Kniola, am requesting a free eye shield from Collier County Schools.  Curious to see how that goes.
So in the end, the story continues on.  Wink recently did a story, Naples Daily is ready to publish a story, and the good that did come out of this I have seen thus far, is eye safety.

WINK-
http://www.winknews.com/Local-Florida/2014-09-10/SWFL-teen-makes-the-best-of-football-injury

The Scholtz family has since set up a fund for eye shields for those in need. You can find that on GO FUND ME and at all SUNTRUST banks if you are interested in donating.
http://www.gofundme.com/dvimrw

So for now, a big thank you for all the support everyone has given Spencer and his family. I do wish you all the best Spencer.  And don’t forget, everything is going to be alright. Love ya kid!