Everywhere I went in the past 48 hours, friends and acquaintances asked me one thing and one thing only:
How is Alan Mohika doing?
Before the weekend, few people statewide knew about the Damien quarterback/defensive back. I’d met him just once or twice, on photo days at Damien. But on Friday, as he passed for Damien’s first touchdown of the season, he suffered a severe concussion. As Monarchs coach Eddie Klaneski said, Alan was unconscious, was not breathing and had no pulse.
As of today, after being kept in ICU at Queen’s Medical Center, he’s “100 percent better,” the coach said. With that, Alan’s family, the Damien ohana and all of Hawaii’s prep football fans are relieved. Both Coach Klaneski and Alan’s mother, Nohea, were thankful and still emotional about the turbulent weekend that turned into a survival battle for the two-sport senior.
“They took him out of ICU this morning,” Nohea Mohika said. “It was a small kind of bleeding in the brain. They’ve done three scans so far and it hasn’t gotten worse. They took out his breathing tube, the neck brace and the oxygen.”
The Mohika family drew strength from many friends.
“He’s had a real strong prayer group around the island, a lot of people dedicated their masses to Alan. At New Hope Christian Christian Fellowship 7 o’clock service they prayed for him. I didn’t know the impact of all of this. I’m just a mother and I had no idea how big this turned out to be, all the people that’s been visiting him. It’s just amazing,” she said.
See the story in breaking news.
Paul Honda, Star-Advertiser
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