Flushing’s Malaki Edwards back on field 9 months after nearly losing leg

FLUSHING, MI – The date was Aug. 26, 2021, it was the first game of the high school football season at Atwood Stadium and Flushing’s Malaki Edwards was off to a tremendous start.

Edwards had scored the Raiders’ first three touchdowns in what would be a 33-6 victory over Powers Catholic but on his 12th carry, disaster struck. Less than a minute into the fourth quarter, Edwards was hit from the side and his right leg exploded.

An injury that was initially believed to be a dislocated kneecap was instead much worse.

Flushing senior running back Malaki Edwards falls backward after muscling his way into the endzone for a tourchdown in the second half on Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021 during the Flint and Genesee Vehicle City Gridiron Classic at Atwood Stadium in Flint. Flushing defeated Flint Powers Catholic 33-6. (Jake May | MLive.com)Jake May

Edwards ruptured an artery in his right leg and tore a nerve in addition to three ligaments in his knee – the anterior cruciate, medial collateral and posterior cruciate. An ambulance was brought onto the field to take Edwards to Hurley Medical Center, which fortunately was only a couple of hundred yards away.

When Edwards arrived at the hospital, doctors immediately recognized the severity of the injury and had him in surgery 30 minutes later after delivering some grim news.

“Once I got there, they told me, ‘This could get bad, we need to hurry up and act fast,’” he recalled. “I had no time to think about what was going to happen. I just kind of let God take the wheel.

“The doctors said I might not even walk again let alone have my leg. I just wanted to prove everybody wrong. That’s who I always was as a kid.”

The doctors were able to save Edwards right leg and Monday, less that nine months later and after countless hours of physical therapy, Edwards was back on the baseball field making his 2022 debut.

He was the starting pitcher in a 4-3 victory over Davison on Flushing’s Senior Day and was also the leadoff hitter.

Edwards threw a strike on his first pitch, a knuckleball, and he fanned the Davison’s first batter. He issued a walk, got the third batter to fly out and then got out of the inning on a fielder’s choice.

Leading off the bottom of the first, Edwards ripped a single down the left-field line. He hobbled to first and was replaced by a pinch-runner since he has trouble running.

“It felt amazing just be out with Raider nation again,” said Edwards, who has been on the varsity baseball and football teams for three years. “It felt like the first game ever again. Had the butterflies, anxious, but I talked to my parents and they calmed me, telling me it’s just another game of baseball. ‘It’s your favorite sport.’

“It was a special game. It was amazing, like the fairytales. I was really nervous coming in here. I didn’t want to put on a bad performance. It went perfect.”

The Raiders weren’t counting on anything big from Edwards against Davison. His appearance on the field was basically ceremonial since he’s far from being at full strength. But to go from where he began to where he’s at today could almost be considered miraculous.

“The amount of work he’s done, the amount of effort he’s put in, you won’t find anybody who works harder than Malaki at anything, everything,” said coach Stephen Burdis. “He’s has a drive to get better. He had a drive to come back from his injury. That’s just the kind of guy he is.

“He’s going to accomplish everything he wants.”

Madonna University apparently thinks so. Edwards signed a letter of intent with the Crusaders last week to play baseball, which has always been his No. 1 sport. He was playing football simply to have some fun.

To prepare for his comeback and college, he attends therapy three days a week. He’s been at the Raiders’ baseball games all season after his therapy sessions – he had one before the Davison game – and going to games makes Edwards feel like part of the team as he does whatever necessary to help out teammates.

In last week’s Metro League championship game vs. Goodrich, he ran a glove out to a teammate who was stranded on the bases, he retrieves bats, warms up the outfielders between innings and offers encouragement – as well as challenging words if needed.

“He does everything,” said ace pitcher Jake Morrison, who will play for Coastal Carolina next season. “There’s no stopping Malaki. The only person that will is Burdis. He wants to play. He wants to get out there. Nobody wants it more than that kid.

“He’s truly an inspiration and he embodies the dedication he has. Nobody thought he’d be moving by now. He’s progressed so much further. Its really inspiring. Every time he shows up, we get really motivated and we’re a little bit more (inspired) to win.”

Edwards’ injury was a fluke thing and although he knew something was wrong when he got hit, he didn’t realize the severity of what happened until he got to the hospital.

“I was running, planted my left foot, went to step with the right and got hit from up top,” said Edwards, 18. “My leg stayed straight. I just got a really bad head spin. I was like ‘Oh, my God. What’s going on?’ Before that game, I had a dislocated clavicle and I was playing through that.

“I didn’t know what was happened. I saw my mom and my first instinct was to make sure she was OK. It was more worrying about everybody else than myself.”

Clara Edwards, Malaki’s mom, knew something was wrong the minute he went down near the sideline in front of the Flushing bench and she immediately rushed onto the field to be with her son.

She has been documenting everything about Malaki’s recovery via pictures on her cell phone. She has pictures of him in the hospital, pictures of him taking his first steps and pictures of him doing PT.

“When I heard him scream, I knew he wasn’t getting back up,” she said. “I heard it. That was a terrifying scream. I couldn’t fathom him getting back up. He was about to lose consciousness. He was so worried about me. He kept talking to me.

“He doesn’t want any pity. He doesn’t want anybody to feel sorry for him. It was just a fluke accident. It wasn’t like anybody intended it.”

When Malaki woke up after the surgery – it lasted more than six hours – he had no idea what happened. When he picked up his cell phone, he saw hundreds of texts and messages from family and friends.

He credits them with offering support since he started therapy in January, something that continues to this day since he’s still a long way from being at full strength.

The 6-foot, 220-pound Edwards said he can’t run very fast – he called it’s more like “a slow jog” – and he’s doing things in therapy designed to build up his leg to play baseball.

That said, he’s not afraid to admit he was tempted to quit therapy more than once.

“Day 1, it was hard,” he said. “I couldn’t thank the family and my nurses at the hospital more because honestly, I wanted to quit. There were a lot of times it was easier to quit but the nurses gave me inspiration. They would tell me I could be so much to other people.

“I think that challenge, I wanted to let other people know an injury like this that I could come back and play great. I wanted to just be back and get back with my friends, get back with the team.”

Edwards has some gnarly scars on his legs that he’s not shy about showing people if they’re interested.

On the inside of his left leg is a scar that stretches almost the length of his leg. It resembles a zipper that’s about an inch wide. That’s where doctors had to remove a vein from his left leg to repair the artery in his right leg. They also had to relieve pressure on his foot where blood from the damaged artery was gathering.

His right leg, where all the damage took place, has scars on both the inside and outside. They’re hard to describe but two are roughly about 2-3 inches wide and 4-5 inches long.

He also has scars up near his knee on the outside of his right leg.

Edwards wears a rubber sleeve on his right leg on days when he’s not going to be doing much physically and he wears a bulky brace on days he attends therapy or games.

He doesn’t have any feeling from the knee down in his right leg because doctors had to cut some nerves during surgery. But other than that, “it feels pretty normal,” he said.

“I shouldn’t be here right now,” he said. “I should be still trying to get back to it but I defied the odds, pushed through it with all my family support all the people that worked on my leg and physical therapy.

“I’ve learned that with pain comes glory and the pain from yesterday made me stronger today and just keep pushing on.

“I can’t shy away from saying it, but it was a miracle.”

Malaki Edwards injured during 33-6 win over Powers

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