The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
‘I’m so blessed just to be here’
Lake Catholic senior thankful for second chance after near-fatal fall
Sweat pours off the brow of Dorian Gridiron as he rises to his feet in the Lake Catholic wrestling room. ¶ A senior 170-pounder, Gridiron is fatigued from a grueling workout with his teammates. His muscles are sore from a few hours of the physical grind, yet Gridiron smiles as he chats with a buddy walking with him. ¶ Gridiron has a lot to smile about, just because he is here.¶ Not “here” as in practice, but “here” as in here, period. ¶ He is alive.
On July 18, 2016, Gridiron and his brother Adrian were in a hiking accident in Leroy Township where both young men fell off a 100-foot cliff and landed in the shallows of the Grand River.
Adrian pulled his severely injured little brother nearly half a mile upstream in a kayak to safety and flagged down help, unsure of just how injured Dorian was.
For two years, Dorian, a former junior high state-placer on the wrestling mat, battled lifethreatening injuries sustained in that fall - a ruptured spleen, brain bleed, a compound fracture to his arm and broken ribs that nearly punctured his lung.
He didn’t know if he would live.
He surely didn’t know if he would ever wrestle again.
But as this weekend’s Catholic Invitational wrestling tournament nears, Gridiron has a few things going for him that are much deeper than his 18-7 record with nine pins. He has family. He has teammates. And he has a second chance, not only in the sport he loves, but at life.
“I’m so glad to be here,” Gridiron said in a soft tone. “I’m so BLESSED just to be here.”
Two years ago, Dorian Gridiron was face-down in the water, unconscious and his body quivering from a 100-foot drop off a cliff. That he is in position to wrestle at all, let alone at the level he is wrestling, is a gift in his mind.
The morning of July 18, 2016, started as a happy one. Dorian and his family would be celebrating the birthday of younger sister Maya on this beautiful day. But first, Dorian and Adrian wanted to get out in nature for a bit and do some kayaking in the Grand River.
“We brought the kayaks and went down the river a little bit,” Adrian said. “There was a straight cliff above us with a crevice. We decided to go hiking at the top, which was wooded.”
The boys scaled the landscape and hiked along the top, glancing down at the stream below them.
“We got too close,” Adrian said. “I remember falling. I hit a little spot and stopped. I was hanging onto a tree on my tiptoes. I told my brother to stay up there.”
Dorian stepped down to help his brother ... and slid.
“Next thing I know, I’m at the bottom in the creek. Couldn’t believe I was alive,” Adrian said. “I was hurt, but I looked up and yelled to Dorian that I was all right.”
No one was atop the cliff from where Adrian fell.
He looked off to the side of him in the shallows, and there was Dorian facedown in the water convulsing “like he was having a seizure,” as Adrian recalled it.
In full-blown panic, Adrian turned over his brother, who was unconscious and bleeding from the side of his head, his arm disfigured from a compound fracture. He dragged Dorian to the bank and ran - as fast as he could with his own injuries - upstream and through the woods to a road in an attempt to flag down a vehicle.
Both boys’ cell phones were lost in the river’s waters from the fall.
After finding help, which called local rescue units, Adrian said he ventured back to his brother with the worst fears fueling him.
“Scariest time of my life,” Adrian said. “I’m running back there not knowing if he’d be dead when I
got there.”
Adrian loaded his brother into a kayak and dragged it upstream to a path that took him to the nearest road.
It was weeks before Dorian heard the story of how it all unfolded. His memory goes blank from the moment he braced for the fall until he woke up in the hospital with medical personnel hovering over him.
“I don’t even remember the fall,” Dorian said. “I remember rolling a few times at the very, very top, then nothing.”
The injuries he sustained reveal the tale of how he landed. Ribs on his left side were broken and his left arm had a compound fracture near his wrist. His spleen ruptured. And he had a severe concussion, with an EKG revealing a brain bleed.
The boys’ father, James Gridiron, breaks down in tears recalling not only the events of the day, but also the phone call he got to inform him that his sons were injured and that Dorian was being flown to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland with serious injuries.
Bill Meredith, a former multi-sport star at Perry and longtime friend of the Gridirons, was among the emergency personnel who responded that day and told his friend James, “Your boy is in bad shape.”
James’ mind raced as he sped toward the hospital.
“Adrian comes in while they’re working on Dorian, and he’s soaking wet,” James said. “I’m like, ‘You fell, too?’
“Adrian was about 120 pounds at the time. He was pretty banged up. He ended up having an injured arm, a fractured tailbone and a concussion. But he dragged his brother up the stream in a (kayak) to safety. It’s amazing.”
The rehabilitation process was not only long, it was frustrating. Dorian’s left arm was in a cast for weeks, a procedure had to be done on his ruptured spleen, the brain bleed had to be stopped, and there were severe concussion issues.
Once his life was no longer in danger, Dorian thought of his wrestling career.
After losing a wrestle-off with upperclassmen Joey Boley the previous season as a freshman, Dorian had high expectations for his sophomore year. That was now in limbo. “I didn’t know if I’d wrestle again,” he said.
After all, he was having memory problems. Retaining information proved difficult. His reflexes were slowed considerably. His mind would tell him to do something, but his muscles didn’t respond how they used to.
It was complete frustration.
“It was hard just to breathe,” Dorian said. “I didn’t do anything — train, wrestle, hike - nothing I
used to do. Nothing I liked to do.”
More than two years later, James still breaks down in tears hearing his son talk about the struggles.
“No, no. I never gave up hope,” James sobbed as Dorian reached over and patted his father on the leg.
Dorian didn’t give up, either. Once he was out of the hospital, he got back to working out. He pushed himself physically in hopes of someday being the wrestler he always aimed to be as a youngster. He challenged himself in the classroom to regain the memory capacity he had before the near-fatal fall.
Finally, this past summer, Dorian made it back to the wrestling mat at a preseason national tournament in Des Moines, Iowa. One of his losses was to a two-time state champion from Oklahoma.
“I went 3-2,” he said. “I’ll take that for not wrestling for more than two years.”
His debut with the Lake Catholic wrestling team came at the Solon Comet Classic in early December. He was nervous, but nowhere near as nervous as his father.
“I kept telling myself, ‘He’s got this. He’s OK. He’s got this,’ ” James said.
Dorian pinned Michael Leonard of Walsh Jesuit in the first period. He ended up placing fifth at the rugged Solon Comet Classic, finishing with a 9-8 decision over South’s Justin Hendershot.
“It’s coming back. Sometimes not as fast as I’d like it to, but it’s coming back,” Dorian said of his wrestling skills.
“I pushed so hard to get here, both athletically and academically. If not for my dad and my coach, I wouldn’t be where I’m at. I’m so thankful for them.”
Lake Catholic wrestling coach Scott Hivnor calls it a “blessing” not only for Dorian to be wrestling, but to be alive.
“Regardless of what happens, he’s an amazing story,” Hivnor said. “We’re not OK with just being here. We’re training hard. He has goals to get to Columbus (to the state tournament) and that’s a very realistic goal.”
“My goals are pretty high,” Dorian said. “I know I can make it. I’m going to put in all the work I can to do that.”
Two years ago, Dorian Gridiron was face-down in the water, unconscious and his body quivering from a 100-foot drop off a cliff.
That he is in position to wrestle at all, let alone at the level he is wrestling, is a gift in his mind.
So is a second chance at life.
“You know,” Dorian said, pausing a moment, “I have thanked my brother for what he did that day for me. We don’t go much into it because it’s such a traumatic accident to bring up. But I thanked him.
“I know I am blessed. I’m very thankful to be here, and I’m blessed.”
“Scariest time of my life. I’m running back there not knowing if he’d be dead when I got there.” Adrian Salas