GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER
LA JOYA — La Joya High safety Leo Garza was riding a tractor around his yard when he suddenly felt lost. He jumped off and looked around in a haze before his mother, Nancy, came over to check on him.
“What are we doing here?” Leo asked.
Nancy explained to him that he was at home, with his family, and that everything was OK. In the two months since the 2015 football season had ended, she had grown used helping Leo through headaches, lightheadedness, and even occasional bouts of memory loss, all stemming from a pair of concussions he had suffered three weeks apart.
“I get scared, because I don’t know how to help him out,” Nancy said. “I can tell him who he is or who I am, but when he forgets and he doesn’t know, it’s scary, because I don’t know what else to do.”
Doctors have told Leo and his parents that the complications are somewhat normal, affecting about three out of every 10 patients who have suffered concussions. Leo said a specialist told him not to play football again, citing the long-term brain damage that can result from repeated head trauma.
Initially, Leo agreed to oblige, a decision that very much pleased his parents. But as the summer wore on and senior year approached, Leo had a change of heart. As La Joya High goes through practices in preparation for the 2016 season, Leo is a regular participant, set to reprise his role as one of the team’s leaders in the secondary.
“At first I was like, I don’t think I’m going to be able to do this,” Leo said. “But then one day, everything just got to me again. And I said, ‘You know what? I can.’”
“I love this sport, and I can’t stay away from it.”
When Leo suffered his first concussion on Sept. 17 against Weslaco East, the only person he recognized was then-coach George Espinoza.
As his family brought him to the hospital, Leo kept repeating three questions: How did we do? Did we win? How is the team? He was kept overnight, until 6 p.m. the following day. He had no recollection of the game.
In the weeks that followed, Leo dealt with headaches, anxiety and trouble sleeping, Nancy said. Leo’s farther, Carlos, said he was surprised when Leo passed La Joya High’s concussion protocol and returned to the field Oct. 9, against La Joya Palmview. Nancy remembers being stunned and unable to breathe when Leo went down again during that game. He again seemed disoriented, asking the same questions over and over.
“By the time he played Palmview, he was in pain, but he wouldn’t let us know,” Nancy said. “We wouldn’t notice it on him. After the second concussion, that was when we started paying more attention.”
Unlike the first concussion, most of the immediate effects subsided relatively quickly. In the next few weeks he was sometimes sensitive to light and sound, so he stayed home and watched the games on Hudl rather than from the sideline.
Leo said it was a couple months later that he started having lapses in memory.
“I forgot where I was, who I was talking to,” Leo said. “I forgot my friend’s names, and my parents, as well.”
The change was shocking for Leo. He ditched aspirations of a career in phlebotomy out of fear of suffering a mental lapse while working with a patient. Carlos saw that Leo was different.
The family watched the movie “Concussion” together, and Leo resigned himself to giving up his dreams of playing in college. But then a talk with his uncle, Jaime, who has a history in boxing, convinced Leo to not give up.
“Since I got the concussion my life kind of went down. I lost a lot more than I had gained,” Leo said. “And since that talk with my uncle, I feel like I’ve been gaining now instead of losing.”
Leo said returning to play was a challenge to his conditioning, with tasks that once seemed easy becoming much more difficult. To compensate, he runs or bikes a few miles extra before or after practice.
Given that Leo is cleared, La Joya coach Reuben Farias is going to allow him to play, but only about 10 plays per game during the non-district season.
Nancy went as far as trying to bribe Leo with a car to keep him away from football, but Leo insisted on going back. She and Carlos have noticed an improvement in Leo’s focus and attitude since his return, and they’re optimistic he’ll go back to chasing his goal of a career in medicine once the concussion symptoms fully subside.
“As parents, the first reaction is trying to talk him out of it,” Carlos said. “But then, we decided to support him.”
NEW WEAPON
La Joya High’s offense will welcome a new receiver into the fold, with Joseph Moreno transferring in from McAllen Rowe. In the past two seasons, Moreno has racked up 95 catches for 1,367 yards and 13 TDs.
DEFENSIVE DRIVE
Leo Garza is one of six returning starters on defense. Other key pieces include linebackers Rey Hernandez, Jonathan Gomez and Anthony Chapa, lineman Jose Perez and safety Fernando De La Rosa.
PROGNOSIS
First-year coach Reuben Farias is hoping to revitalize La Joya High, which has enough familiar faces on offense and defense to make a run at the playoffs.
Projected 2016 Record: 4-7
TENURE
Coach: Reuben Farias
Year at school: 1st
Career record: 0-0