EGELSTON TOWNSHIP – The way Spencer Anderson sees it, he’s doing fine, and he would love to get back on the soccer field and football field as soon as possible.

He’s more than ready to put the skull fracture and brain bleed he suffered last week behind him.

But his parents and doctors know better, so Anderson will be sitting at home for a few more weeks doing almost nothing at all, per medical orders. He can’t go to school, do much homework, watch TV or play any video games – the types of things that average teenagers would be doing.

That doesn’t sit very well with Spencer, the standout starting goalie for the Oakridge soccer team, and the first-year placekicker for the varsity football team.

“I don’t want to, but I kind of have to,” Spencer said, when asked if he was following the long list of doctor’s orders he brought home from the hospital. “I have a whole bunch of papers saying what I can do and can’t do. Basically I have to stay home and sleep and eat, and that’s about it.”

His father, Roy Anderson, said the effort to keep Spencer inactive is a challenge.

“You try to keep an active 17-year-old from doing something,” he said. “It’s insane. The other night he wanted to go watch the soccer game, and he was actually texting his teammates down on the bench. For a minute I thought I might have to take his phone away.

“He doesn’t realize that (the medical situation) could have gone the other way real quick, and that would not have been good.”

Spencer’s scary experience started last Wednesday, about 10 minutes into the game between his Oakridge soccer team and Montague.

Montague freshman Lucas Husband had a breakaway and was coming toward Spencer in the goal box.  Of course Husband wanted to score his second goal of the game, and Spencer wanted to stop him, so they both went full force toward each other.

Spencer lunged for the ball, Husband’s knee caught him near the right temple, and it was immediately obvious that he was seriously hurt.

“I don’t know, I don’t remember,” Spencer said, when asked to describe the incident. “I remember it being a couple minutes into the game, like 10 minutes, and I remember getting scored on by the same kid (before the collision). After that I don’t remember much until I got into the car. I remember throwing up on the way to the hospital, and I remember being in the emergency room.

“I was told that I was going for the ball, the kid was coming at me with a breakaway, I dove for the ball and took an unlucky knee to the head. It was one of those things you can’t control. It happened in a split second.”

The doctors believe Spencer was knocked out for a few moments on the field. He was able to get up and walk to the bench, but it was clear that he was not okay, and his mother, Melissa Anderson, drove him to Mercy Hospital.

It was there that he learned that the jolt he took caused his skull to fracture, and the fracture caused his brain to bleed in several places. Spencer suffered from severe head pain, particularly a few days after the collision.

“It was really bothering me the first night, the second day was not horrible, but I think the third day, Friday night, it got really bad,” he said. “I had really sharp pains in my skull and temple area. But they gave me meds and stuff, eventually I fell asleep, and when I woke up I was all right.”

Spencer spent five full days in the hospital, and was released on Monday, but the situation was pretty frightening for a while. One of his brain bleeds stopped, but the one increased for a time, causing a buildup of blood within the skull. That buildup caused his brain to shift to the left, and if the bleeding hadn’t stopped on its own, surgery would have been necessary.

“The bleeding was getting worse day to day,” Roy Anderson said. “They were doing CT scans every day. When the brain starts moving, things can get real dangerous real quick.”

“I was really surprised,” Spencer said about being in the emergency room and hearing his prognosis. “I thought it was just a concussion. It was a big shock.

“The(CT scan) said one of the bleeds had stopped but the other had increased a little bit. That one was hit or miss in terms of having surgery or not. If it had still been increasing they would have had to do something about it, but luckily it stopped and stabilized.”

On his first full day in the hospital, Spencer checked his text messages and found one from Husband, apologizing for the collision. He answered the text, reassuring Lucas that it was nobody’s fault, and they’ve kept in contact since then.

“He texted me the same night (of the game),” Spencer said. “Obviously I was on morphine that night, but the next morning I asked my dad to get my phone, I saw that message, and we’ve been texting back and forth ever since. It was a total accident. He felt horrible about it and I felt really bad for him. We’ve  become friends from this.”

Earlier this week Roy Anderson drove up to a Montague soccer game to talk to Lucas, his parents and the Wildcat team, reassuring them that there were no hard feelings at all.

“They actually had a card for Spencer that the whole team signed, and a banner hanging up that said ‘Playing for Spencer,’” Roy Anderson said.

“You don’t realize the outpouring of support we’ve had, not just from this community, but everywhere,” Spencer added. “I’ve had a lot of support from the soccer team and the football team, and even from people I’ve never even met. The North Muskegon soccer team reached out, and a couple other teams too. It’s been really overwhelming.”

There are a few big questions yet to be answered, like when Spencer will be allowed to get back on the field with the soccer and football teams.

“I’m not quite sure,” Spencer said. “I think we will figure that out a bit more after the next CT scan. The doctor told me in the hospital, before the brain shift, that it might be three or four weeks. I’m just hoping to get back to school and start working my way back into things.

“I want to get back out there so much. My mom and dad are worried about it, just because they are my parents. I know I have to take it easy for a while. I’m kind of torn about it.”

Another question yet to be answered is Spencer’s push to be class valedictorian. He currently has an amazing 4.1 grade point average and is second in his class. His twin brother Gavin, also a member of the soccer team, has a 4.01 GPA.

Both of them have applied for acceptance to the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Spencer will be unable to go to school for weeks, and will only be able to do light homework during that time. He said he’s been in contact with his teachers, who have told him to take it easy and promised to go easy on him.

Even if he doesn’t finish first in his class, Spencer said it won’t be a huge loss.

“I’m right behind the girl in the lead, but I’m not too worried about it,” he said.

“He doesn’t like making speeches, anyway,” his father added.