{"id":59526,"date":"2025-08-28T10:23:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T14:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=59526"},"modified":"2025-08-28T10:27:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T14:27:17","slug":"former-emu-soccer-player-uses-near-death-experience-to-inspire-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/former-emu-soccer-player-uses-near-death-experience-to-inspire-others\/","title":{"rendered":"Former EMU soccer player uses near-death experience to inspire others"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After a car crash last year derailed his playing career and nearly took his life, Joel Spalding is sharing his story to spread God\u2019s love<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last September, Joel Spalding <\/strong>woke up in a hospital bed from a monthlong coma. It was then, as the medication fog began to lift and his mind started to make sense of his surroundings, that he discovered that one of his legs was missing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spalding was a first-year computer science major at EMU during the 2023-2024 school year and played as a forward<\/a> on the Royals soccer team. The Alexandria, Virginia, native had been playing for a semipro team in Northern Virginia over the summer to stay in shape for the upcoming college soccer season. During a rainy night on July 31, 2024, he was driving home from a practice when his car hydroplaned and crashed into a tree. Spalding lost consciousness in the crash and was taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital, where he was placed into a medically induced coma. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While he was sedated, his left leg was amputated above the knee. \u201cThey told me later that my leg was barely hanging on by a thread,\u201d said Spalding, who now wears a prosthetic leg. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was far from the only part of him that needed mending. \u201cI broke both of my femurs, I shattered my pelvis, I damaged my bladder, lungs, liver, and diaphragm, and I had a traumatic brain injury and brain bleed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Joel Spalding spent two months in the intensive care unit at Inova Fairfax Hospital and another month in inpatient rehab while recovering from injuries sustained in a serious car crash on July 31, 2024.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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In the months that followed, Spalding underwent more than 30 surgeries. His days playing soccer for EMU were over. Both college life and the future he had imagined were suddenly put on hold.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cIt was really tough, both physically and mentally,\u201d he said. \u201cI struggled with depression, feeling like I lost everything that mattered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSoccer was literally everything to me. It was what I lived and breathed. I would wake up every morning and my first thought would be, \u2018What time is practice?\u2019 And then I couldn\u2019t do that anymore.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his long recovery, through painful rehab sessions in the hospital and the feelings of depression that gnawed at him, his coach and teammates from EMU were there to rally around him in support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to their frequent FaceTime calls, Justin Carey<\/strong> MBA ’21<\/strong>, head men\u2019s soccer coach at EMU, regularly made the two-hour drive to visit Spalding in the hospital and at his home. \u201cCoach was there for me and my family and helped in any way he could,\u201d Spalding said. \u201cI also knew I could count on my teammates to lift me up. They would come by the house and we\u2019d hang out and watch football and get something to eat. They\u2019re a real stand-up group of guys.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carey said that the players took it upon themselves to organize trips to see Spalding. \u201cThey spend so much time together,\u201d Carey said. \u201cThese relationships can transform your life, so when something like that happens to a friend like Joel, you drop everything to be there for him.\u201d He added that the soccer team worked with the EMU Counseling Center to talk through their feelings of grief and uncertainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Months after the crash, Joel Spalding was able to visit the junkyard and see the wreckage of his car (pictured above). “I didn’t think it would be that bad until I went and saw it in person,” he said. “All I could think was, ‘Wow, nobody should be able to survive that.’ I’m so grateful to still be here.” <\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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It was during the recovery process, Spalding said, that he started \u201clocking in with God\u201d and growing deeper in his faith. Spalding, who was raised Christian, was able to visit the junkyard in Maryland that held the wreckage of his car. Looking at the mangled mess of metal, all he could think was, \u201cNobody should be able to survive that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI should be dead right now, like super dead, but I know that God saved me for a reason,\u201d Spalding said. \u201cI know it\u2019s a miracle that I\u2019m here, that I\u2019m still able to talk, and that I\u2019m mentally capable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know God saved me so that he can use my testimony to inspire and help others. Ever since I realized that, I\u2019ve decided I\u2019m going to live the rest of my life for God and do everything I can for him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spalding has been sharing his testimony about how his faith carried him through his recovery. He\u2019s spoken at his home church in Northern Virginia, and in July testified at a conference in Tampa, Florida, where he now lives and attends Bible college. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carey said he\u2019s been inspired by his former player. \u201cFor Joel to process, grieve, and find something he can be passionate about, at just 20 years old and all within a year of the accident, is incredible. Not many people could do that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After a car crash last year derailed his playing career and nearly took his life, Joel Spalding is sharing his story to spread God\u2019s love Last September, Joel Spalding woke ... read more about Former EMU soccer player uses near-death experience to inspire others<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":302,"featured_media":59532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17562,5681,14139],"tags":[18522,18523,17435,18525,18524],"feature":[17427,17426,17241,17422],"class_list":["post-59526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digest","category-mens-soccer","category-student-profiles","tag-joel-spalding","tag-justin-carey","tag-mens-soccer","tag-recovery","tag-testimony","feature-emu-home-page-feature","feature-myemu-feature","feature-news-feature","feature-news-landing-page-main-feature"],"yoast_head":"\nFormer EMU soccer player uses near-death experience to inspire others - 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