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t m c » p u l s e | j a n / f e b 2 0 1 7 6 6 Mental Toughness NFL cornerback D.J. Hayden knows how to fight back after injuries Oakland Raiders cornerback D.J. Hayden. Credit: AP / Paul Jasienski, courtesy of the Oakland Raiders B y B r i t n i N . R i l e y A n 18-inch scar runs the length of D.J. Hayden's torso, from the notch between his collar bones all the way down to his navel. "The scar is a daily reminder of God's plan for me," said the Oakland Raiders cornerback. "I know he has a plan for me, and I just need to follow through with it." Hayden, who grew up in Missouri City, Texas, and played football at Elkins High School, likes to compare himself to a phoenix rising from the ashes. He's had one football injury after another—at the University of Houston and then as a pro for the Raiders. But he keeps making his way back to the field. Hayden's most severe injury occurred during a full-pads practice at UH in 2012. The Cougars were preparing to take on the University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane, and Hayden was making a play he had executed hundreds of times before. But this time, he collided with fellow cornerback and friend Trevon Stewart. Mike "Doc" O'Shea, head athletics trainer at UH, will never forget that day. Although he doesn't make it to every practice, O'Shea was on the sidelines Nov. 6 when Hayden was hit and fell to the ground. "Something just told me to put him on the medical cart and take him into the locker room, instead of hav- ing him walk," O'Shea said. "We had a TV on and he told me that it started to get blurry. I knew it wasn't a head injury because I had seen the hit and he didn't hit his head. I knew right then there is something going south on us really quick." Hayden was taken by ambulance to what is now Memorial Hermann Red Duke Trauma Institute. There, trauma surgeon Ron Albarado, M.D., stepped in. Albarado and his team realized Hayden was losing blood, but didn't know the source. To find it, they cut open Hayden's chest and broke his sternum. The injury turned out to be a massive tear to the inner vena cava of Hayden's heart, an injury more typical of a high-speed car accident or wartime combat. The average fatality rate for a tear to the inner vena cava: 95 percent. "Everything went right that day and God was on our side," O'Shea said. "He put his hand on us, and if things wouldn't have happened within that hour, D.J. wouldn't be where he is today. We didn't do any- thing special; we just went with our instincts and we probably had someone on our shoulder from up above telling us what to do."