SPORTS
Saint Jo women learns to move on after deadly illness
Hannah was confused.
Last thing she remembered was her college roommate and best friend Audrey Kubis taking her to the emergency room after a few days of being sick. When her face got some mysterious blue dots, her mom, a nurse herself, insisted her roommate take her to the ER.
While waiting to get checked in she fell asleep.
When she woke up she was hooked on to machines that were helping her breathe, several of her limbs were black and her family was more happy and relieved to see her.
What happened, she wondered?
Hannah had been in a coma for 12 days and her life had changed forever.
College girl
Hannah Reyling is the 22-year-old daughter of Paulette and Chris Reyling. She was born and raised in Saint Jo where she graduated in 2021. She has an older sister named Ashley who also went to Saint Jo High School.
An active child, Hannah participated in many sports leagues in neighboring Nocona. She quickly found out basketball was not her thing and gravitated towards volleyball.
“I don’t like when people touch me like in basketball,” Hannah said. “Girls are mean, so I just didn’t like the physical part of it. In volleyball, you don’t crash into each other, or you aren’t supposed to anyway. So I just like that about it. It can be very clean, but also very messy sometimes. It should have the same pass, hit rhythm to it and kind of never gets old when it’s executed like that.”
Hannah dove into the sport growing up and played on club teams. It paid off in high school, getting her onto the varsity team by her sophomore year and helping the team to the regional tournament twice in 2018 and 2020 as an outside hitter. She was named a Texas Sports Writers Association 1A all-state honorable mention in 2018 and was the district’s most valuable player in 2020.
She was listed at 5’8”, tall enough to comfortably play at the net at Saint Jo. Hannah also had a powerful frame that could put some oomph on her spikes, though more often she was looking to place her hits.
Playing for Coach Charlie Hamilton at the time, she and her teammates helped set the standard for what modern Saint Jo volleyball teams have risen to.
“I played with a lot of good people,” Reyling said. “In 1A, there are not very many setters that are very good, but all throughout high school I had really good setters. Just playing with people who had the skills and actually cared made it a lot of fun.”
Being at a 1A school like Saint Jo, Hannah of course got talked into playing basketball for a couple of seasons, threw shot put and discus in track and was a cheerleader some years. Still, volleyball was and still is her love.
That was my last experience with Hannah three years ago, covering her exploits in sports. Interviewing her in late July at her parents’ home, I never knew she wore glasses since she never wore them when she played.
Even with the success on the court, Hannah went to college to study. Initially she went to Texas Women’s University before transferring to Tarleton State University after one semester. She was pursuing a degree in nutrition, but was not sure on the career path.
After two years of college, she made the conscious choice coming into the fall semester of 2023 to start saying yes to more things and also to be more social beyond just playing intramural sports.
She joined the sorority Phi Mu, despite jests from her father about buying friends and it paid off big time for Hannah.
“Just seeing how the girls are all together all the time,” Hannah said. “I had friends before the sorority, but they were involved and I wanted to be more involved. It was fun and I met a lot of people through it.”
On top of college classes, she now was making time for sorority activities as well as working at a coffee shop/pizza place called Cold Smoke Craft House. She kept up with her love of volleyball by volunteering to assistant coach of a club team as well as intramurals. She even had the thought about hosting a summer volleyball camp in Saint Jo.
Hannah was busy, but loving life as things looked to continue this way at the start of the 2024 winter semester.
The illness
She was coming off a sinus infection from January, but felt good and healthy enough that she was playing in a kickball sorority event in late-February. Two days of sickness followed, with her feeling weak and throwing up. When she woke with blue dots on her face going to the emergency room immediately was a decision that saved her life.
“She’s filling out my papers,” Hannah recalls. “I was really thirsty and they wouldn’t give me water, so I just fell asleep. I woke up in Parkland hospital 12 days later.”
Her mother explained during those lost 12 days, Hannah was diagnosed with bacterial meningococcal meningitis and had purpura lesions that caused blisters on her arms and legs that went as deep as the bone. The infection affects the brain and spinal cord. While in the coma she was transferred to Harris Methodist in Fort Worth. Her body went into sepsis which turned her feet and fingers black.
Her family immediately came to the hospital when things took a turn. They were unaware their lives were about to change.
“She had to be ventilated on day two,” Paulette said. “They told us right away in the emergency room in Harris they feared for her life.”
The family never lost faith even when things looked dire 11 days later and there was little hope coming from the doctors.
“They came in and told us she probably wasn’t going to make it,” Paulette said. “She was still on a vent and not waking up. They were taking her off all medication to try and get her to wake up. They brought in the chaplain and everything so it was pretty emotional at that point for us that she probably wasn’t going to wake up. They told us she most likely would have brain damage if she did wake up because of the meningitis.”
The next day the family’s prayers were answered.
“She just, woke up,” Paulette said. “She wanted the tube out. She knew what we were saying, knew who we were. I mean it was just miraculous. We couldn’t believe it. It was like she was pulling a joke on the doctor, going no I’m not going to die.”
Despite her mental capacity being fine, her body was not. On top of the rough shape her hands and feet were in, her kidneys were in bad shape and she had to be put on dialysis several times.
She also was intubated several times which damaged her vocal cords and affects her speaking voice to this day, sounding as though her voice is hoarse after a day of yelling. Her inability to raise her voice causes her annoyance when she wants to tell her dog to settle down during the interview. She has been told the damage is not permanent and says it is much better than it was months ago.
Hannah was transferred to Parkland Hospital in Dallas since her mom said the previous hospital had not expected her to live and was not equipped to deal with the aftermath of her now black limbs.
Parkland has a burn unit and even though Hannah had not been burned, her limbs were not in good shape due to the sepsis. Eventually by the end of end of March, the difficult decision to amputate both legs, her left hand and most of her right fingers was made.
“My phantom pain was really bad in my legs,” Hannah said. “I would have sensations of my toes being crossed over one another. Not necessarily painful, but just annoying, to feel that and not be able to fix it. A pulling in my Achilles, sharp pains in my legs. It really just was super weird.”
She got to save her left knee thanks to many different things, including leech therapy.
Hannah also got to keep her right thumb, which she appreciates being right handed so she can still work and be addicted to her phone like a normal college age person. She excitedly used it to show me pictures of some of the things she described during the interview, including the leeches.
In all the total amount of surgeries, including all of the skin grafts, amounts to six. Her nurses and doctors got to know her so well, they threw her a surprise birthday party since she would be released only a few days before her 22nd birthday. She got to come home on June 19, 111 days from the day Audrey took her to the emergency room and now lives with her parents in Saint Jo.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
Nocona
The Nocona Indians ended their regular season with a sweep of Alvord to secure a number one seed heading into the playoffs.
The Indians won 13-6 and 3-1 to earn the top seed in the big school division in the playoffs.
With that much on the line despite already securing a playoff spot the previous week, Nocona had a lot to play for in its final regular season series.
The Bulldogs got on the board first with two runs, but the Indians answered with nine runs in the bottom of the first inning to retake the lead 9-2.
Both teams scored one run in the third inning before Nocona scored three runs in the fourth inning to go up 13-3. Alvord was able to extend the game and avoid getting run-ruled by scoring two runs in the fifth and one in the sixth inning.
The Indian bats were cold in the final three innings, but the defense bounced back to shut out the Bulldogs in the seventh inning to win 13-6.
RJ Walker and Jayce Lehde each drove in three runs to lead the team while Ladon Fatheree and Zyrus Moreno both drove in two runs. Nocona finished with nine hits and drew nine walks during the game.
On the mound, Walker Murphey pitched six innings and allowed six runs (five earned) on 12 hits while striking out one and walking two.
The second game was more a pitcher’s duel that had far less action scoring runs.
The Indians scored first in the second inning with one run, but Alvord tied the game with one run in the fourth inning. Nocona answered with two runs in the fifth inning and held on to win 3-1.
Lehde and Fatheree drove in one run each while Murphey scored the other run on the basepaths thanks to a wild pitch. Nocona had only two hits while the team drew seven walks.
Walker helped carry the team on the mound, pitching the whole game while giving up one run on four hits and striking out 13 batters. The defense committed no fielding errors.
Bellevue
The Bellevue Eagles ended their season on Monday this week, losing some tough games on the way out before closing with a win.
The Eagles lost to Perrin-Whitt 13-1, to Bryson 17-2 before beating Saint Jo 7-2 to end the season on a high note.
Bellevue struggled against the two other 1A teams in its district in its previous matchups as both teams are heading towards the playoffs. Both the Pirates and Cowboys proved it once again in the final matchup on April 22 and Monday before playing a team more on its level.
The Eagles and Panthers were 1-1 against each other this season. Playing after Bellevue’s loss to against Bryson right before on Saint Jo’s home field, the Eagles wanted revenge.
Bellevue got it with a 7-2 win against the Panthers to end both team’s season and this year improve the series 2-1 in the Eagles favor.
River Trail led the team with two RBIs while Hunter Blackburn had a team high two hits.
The team finished with seven hits and drew 10 walks.
On the mound, Bryce Ramsey allowed two runs on nine hits while striking out seven and walking five. The defense committed one fielding error.
Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Panthers had a tough final week to their disappointing season.
The Panthers lost to Bryson 10-4 before losing to Bellevue 7-2 to close out their season.
Saint Jo knew it was out of the playoff hunt and was playing for pride as it hoped to end the season with its head held high.
The Panthers played the Cowboys on April 22 and were put behind the eight ball when Bryson rallied off seven runs in the third inning. Saint Jo closed the game well, but could not overcome that bad inning as it lost 10-4.
Sam Martin, Charlie Evans, Mathew Sampson and Jayden Curry each drove in one run each. Saint Jo had nine hits and drew six walks during the game.
Unfortunately, Saint Jo’s defense allowed 10 hits and nine walks while committing five fielding errors.
The Panthers then waited a week before ending their season on Monday, due to rain causing the game to be rescheduled, against Bellevue. Each team had beaten the other so far this season and with both teams out of the playoffs, it was a game about local pride more than anything.
Unfortunately for Saint Jo, it did not go its way on Monday. The Eagles scored in every inning besides the first and seventh inning while the Panthers only scored in the fourth inning. Bellevue won 7-2.
Devin Stewart led the team with two RBIs on a double he hit. The team finished with eight hits and drew six walks, but it was not enough to hang with the Eagles.
The pitching staff allowed only four hits, but three fielding errors and nine walks allowed Bellevue to rack up the runs.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
The Bowie Jackrabbits finished their season last week with a dominant series sweep against Vernon.
The Jackrabbits won both games by run-rule 13-2 and 11-1 against the Lions.
Bowie came into the week with its playoff hopes shot after splitting with Holliday. The Jackrabbits were playing for pride and knew they had what it took to win decisively against Vernon and made sure to show it.
Game one did not start off great as the Lions scored two runs in the first inning, but Bowie answered with three runs of its own in the same inning, taking the lead 3-2 and never looking back.
The Jackrabbit defense shut down Vernon the rest of the game while scoring three runs in the second and fourth innings and four runs in the third inning.
It was enough to end the game early after four and half innings, Bowie winning 13-2 in its final home game on senior night.
Edmond De Leon led the team with four RBIs while Boston Farris, Trae Seigler and Jorge De Leon each had two RBIs. The team finished with 10 hits and drew seven walks as the team consistently found ways to score every inning of the game.
Farris got the start on the mound and allowed two runs on six hits while striking out seven and walking four during five innings of work. The defense committed no fielding errors.
The second game was on the road, but the Jackrabbits made sure not to start slow like they did in game one. Edmond De Leon blasted a three-run home run in the first inning to put Bowie up 3-0.
After a scoreless second inning, the Jackrabbits scored three runs in the third and fifth innings and two runs in the fourth inning. With the Lions scoring only one run in the third inning, that was all the run support Bowie needed to end the game early again after five innings.
The Jackrabbits won 11-1.
Edmond De Leon led the team with three RBIs while hitting a home run and a triple. Seigler and Austin Cheney drove in two runs. Bowie finished with 10 hits and drew six walks.
On the mound, Seigler pitched four innings and allowed one run (zero earned) on two hits while striking out and walking one batter. The defense committed three fielding errors.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
For pictures from the last home game, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6874727&T=1
For pictures from senior night, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6874728&T=1
The Saint Jo Lady Panthers season ended on Thursday night in the bi-district round of the playoffs against Knox City.
The Houndettes won by run-rule 21-7 after six innings, ending the Lady Panthers year since the series was condensed to just one game.
Saint Jo came into the series after winning the district title, but knew Knox City would be tough. Still, the Lady Panthers had played in and won several games with high scores which gave them hope they could hang with whatever the Houndettes to could bring.
Knox City got on the board first, scoring on a three-run triple to go up 3-0. Saint Jo answered in the same inning with Kamron Skidmore driving in two runs on a single to cut the lead to 3-2.
In the third inning the Houndettes drove in five runs on a single, double and home run to increase their lead to 8-2. The Lady Panthers got one run back in the same inning thanks to a fielding error at third base that drove in one run to make it 8-3.
After a scoreless fourth inning, Knox City added to its lead in the fifth inning. A fielding error allowed one run to score and a three RBI triple added three more to make it 12-3.
In the sixth inning, the Houndettes reeled off nine runs to as it looked like the end was near for Saint Jo. Down 21-3, the Lady Panthers needed to score nine runs to avoid getting run-ruled.
Down to the final out, Saint Jo started a two-out rally. An error at short stop resulted in two runs to score. Jordyn O’Neal then ripped off a two RBI triple as the Lady Panthers had more than doubled their score.
Unfortunately that is where it would end. The next batter grounded out for the final out.
Knox City won 21-7.
Skidmore led the team with three RBIs while O’Neal was second with two. The team finished with seven hits and drew two walks, but it was not enough to keep up with the Houndettes who had 13 hits and drew 12 walks. Saint Jo committed two fielding errors.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
For more pictures from the game, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6874729&T=1
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