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Damage Done
by Kelci Stringer as told to Sally Gardocki
ESPN The Magazine
At 11:30 p.m. on July 31, 2001, the small DeKalb Peachtree Airport in Atlanta was deserted. No one saw the woman boarding the emergency medic flight. No one knew the small plane was about to fly her straight into a nightmare. No one knew she was lucky to have a seat.
The flight had been arranged and paid for by Randy Moss for Kelci Stringer, wife of his teammate, Pro Bowl offensive tackle Korey Stringer, who lay comatose in a Mankato, Minn., hospital. Kelci sat alone with her Bible and her prayers as the tiny plane bumped above the treetops. Halfway into the flight, she felt a pain deep in her chest. Thoughts of Korey bounced around her head as the plane rocked abruptly. Without warning, they'd flown into the heart of a storm, which would force them to land in Minneapolis, shy of their destination. "I think that's when Korey took that last turn for the worse," Kelci says. "And I wasn't there." There's no malice in her voice, just the emptiness only a single mother, a widow in her 20s, can know.
The Stringer family had the world at their feet in Minnesota.
Korey Stringer died at 1:50 a.m. on Aug. 1. He was buried five days later, in his hometown of Warren, Ohio. "Big K" was remembered fondly by teammates and family members. Over the next few days and weeks, Kelci Stringer began to piece together the last hours of her husband's life.
His death was painful and, she contends, avoidable. In January, Korey's family filed a $100 million wrongful-death lawsuit against the Minnesota Vikings, alleging gross negligence. (Vikings attorney James O'Neal declined to comment for this story, but noted that "we do intend and expect to defend the lawsuit.") A trial is set for next summer.
Shortly before the anniversary of her husband's death, Kelci Stringer speaks about those last days...
by Kelci Stringer as told to Sally Gardocki
ESPN The Magazine
At 11:30 p.m. on July 31, 2001, the small DeKalb Peachtree Airport in Atlanta was deserted. No one saw the woman boarding the emergency medic flight. No one knew the small plane was about to fly her straight into a nightmare. No one knew she was lucky to have a seat.
The flight had been arranged and paid for by Randy Moss for Kelci Stringer, wife of his teammate, Pro Bowl offensive tackle Korey Stringer, who lay comatose in a Mankato, Minn., hospital. Kelci sat alone with her Bible and her prayers as the tiny plane bumped above the treetops. Halfway into the flight, she felt a pain deep in her chest. Thoughts of Korey bounced around her head as the plane rocked abruptly. Without warning, they'd flown into the heart of a storm, which would force them to land in Minneapolis, shy of their destination. "I think that's when Korey took that last turn for the worse," Kelci says. "And I wasn't there." There's no malice in her voice, just the emptiness only a single mother, a widow in her 20s, can know.
The Stringer family had the world at their feet in Minnesota.
Korey Stringer died at 1:50 a.m. on Aug. 1. He was buried five days later, in his hometown of Warren, Ohio. "Big K" was remembered fondly by teammates and family members. Over the next few days and weeks, Kelci Stringer began to piece together the last hours of her husband's life.
His death was painful and, she contends, avoidable. In January, Korey's family filed a $100 million wrongful-death lawsuit against the Minnesota Vikings, alleging gross negligence. (Vikings attorney James O'Neal declined to comment for this story, but noted that "we do intend and expect to defend the lawsuit.") A trial is set for next summer.
Shortly before the anniversary of her husband's death, Kelci Stringer speaks about those last days...
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