OXFORD — Kris Dillard’s face trembles when she goes back mentally to that day almost six years ago.
All the worry and the fear of the unknown crash back to focus, to the anxious panic she felt when she was eight hours away from her son, Thomas Dillard, and she could only ride and wait and cry and pray while his prognosis played out in the Mississippi Delta.
“That day,” Kris Dillard said while quickly fighting back tears, “was so tough because I didn’t have answers and we didn’t know what was to come. I just didn’t know.”
A summer football injury in 2013 put Thomas’ life — and athletic career — in jeopardy, setting off a series of events that changed his path and added increased perspective to a family simply happy to have their son and brother healthy and happy.
At first, it seemed to be a significant blow and an unlucky turn, but as time passed, the circumstances in those hours, days and weeks developed a positive tint. With Thomas’ junior season, and potentially his Ole Miss career, wrapping up this summer, the Dillards’ hope for the correct path has been rewarded.
“It’s in the past, and it led us here,” Thomas’ dad, Tom, said. “Things work out. The Lord was with us.”
Thomas, a switch-hitting outfielder for the defending SEC Tournament champs, was always a well-built, athletic kid. He played most positions on the baseball field and excelled at running back and linebacker in football at an early age.
Thomas began his high school career at Pillow Academy in Greenwood, and there was the idea of moving to a spread scheme to accommodate him as the quarterback.
“I definitely could have played football past high school,” Thomas said. “I don’t know if I could have played at Ole Miss or anything like that, but probably could have had a chance somewhere as a 6-foot, 230-pound linebacker running a 4.6-4.7 (40-yard dash).”
A strange set of events ended that possibility on a football field six years ago this July.
A couple weeks from starting 10th grade, Thomas was finishing up summer baseball and joined his football teammates at a 7-on-7 scrimmage at J.Z. George High School.
He played linebacker during the passing competition, and during an attempted pass break-up a teammate kneed him in the stomach. Initially he thought the breath was knocked out of him, but after a few minutes it seemed more serious.
“I felt a sharp pain and laid on the sideline,” Thomas said. “I told the coaches I needed to go to the hospital, and after a few minutes they had me loaded up. I text my dad that maybe I had a broken rib and was fine but that something was up with my stomach.”
The knee to the stomach caused Thomas’ pancreas and small intestines to separate where connected, spilling any contents out into his body. It also injured his pancreas and required an emergency operation.
Thomas’ breakfast that morning was only a Powerade, so there was little substance to spill out. Much more could have resulted in an even direr situation.
“More than the drink would have been a really bad thing,” Kris said. “Tom almost took him home and let him rest. He was bleeding internally. He never would have woken up. The Lord was really looking after us.”
Thomas spent 10 days in the Greenwood hospital and tried to resume as many normal activities as possible during his first days at home. There were several setbacks, including a two-week stay at a Memphis hospital. He lost between 35 and 40 pounds during the entire ordeal.
He didn’t do any sports-related work until November or December, and it was a six-month recovery to get back to approximately full strength. Ole Miss offered him prior to the injury and stuck with him during the rehabilitation.
He committed in January 2014.
“After the initial surgery I knew I was going to be OK,” Thomas said. “I knew with the type of work ethic we’d put into things I’d be OK. The only reason I’m at Ole Miss playing is because of my dad. He’s put in countless hours with me, and I knew with the work we’d built I’d get back.”
