She’d just flown out to see her son, Shannon, the former North Rowan High star who signed back in October with the Oakland Raiders. Shannon had been on the practice squad since joining the team, but was close to being moved up to the active roster.

“I went out there for the Seattle game (Dec. 5) and they had a big dinner affair. I met the coaches and they told me how hard Shannon was working and how good he was doing,” said Mrs. Myers.

Head coach Jon Gruden explained to Vida that Shannon had arrived at mid-season, had been forced to learn a new system on the fly and it hadn’t been an easy process. But he also said the Raiders had high hopes for Shannon and were hoping his mom could convince him to re-sign with the team after he became a free agent on Jan. 2.

“We’ve got big plans for Shannon,”Gruden told her. “You won’t be disappointed.”

“Nor will you,” Mrs. Myers replied. “I didn’t raise that boy to sit on the bench.”

The Raiders had said similar things to Vida’s son.

“Coach Gruden told me he was going to have me on the field before this season was over on special teams and on selected offensive plays,” Shannon said. “He said they’d been watching me for a month and they’d seen all they needed to see. They told me to work extra hard in practice because they were ready to fit me in. They said they were excited about me as part of their plans for next season.”

The plan was to activate Myers for the Raiders’ Dec. 19 game with Tampa Bay, a possibility that had the 26-year-old wide receiver excited. He had signed with the Bucs last summer only to be cut just prior to the start of the regular season.

“I was eager to show the Bucs what I can do,” said Myers.

But on Dec. 7, two days before the Raiders’ Thursday night game with Tennessee, Myers twisted his right knee, injuring the lateral colateral ligament.

Then a week later, on the 14th, five days before the Tampa Bay game, Myers made a cut in practice and felt two pops in that already-weakened knee. He’d torn the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).

The injury was devastating, requiring major surgery and total knee reconstruction. It also meant a trip to the hospital, the first for Myers since he nearly died after suffering a lacerated kidney in the Miami Dolphins’ training camp in 1995.

“That was frightening — just to go back in to a hospital,” said Myers. “All the bad memories came back at me. I was scared to death.”

It also scared Vida Myers, who spent more than four hours by the phone last Saturday waiting for word on the operation.

The knee reconstruction was successful, but also left Shannon feeling a little eerie.

“What they do is take the Achilles tendon from a cadaver and use it to replace the damaged ACL,” Myers explained. “The Achilles is the strongest tendon in the body, so my knee will eventually be better and stronger than ever. Still, it’s a weird feeling to have a body part from a dead person.”

Much of the operation was performed arthroscopically, with just one small incision near the patella to insert the Achilles. After the operation, doctors informed Myers that he had also torn the ACLat some point earlier in his career, even though he had somehow kept playing. Physicians also cleaned up damage to the medial meniscus. The prognosis is for full recovery, with a timetable of four months.

And now, Myers is left with some tough decisions.

He’s ready for the rehab. That’s not an issue. He knows there will be tough days ahead, days when he doesn’t want to keep pushing, but he’s determined to fight through them.

But what comes after that?

He likes the Raiders’ players and coaches and hopes the organization will still want to re-sign him, but he also realizes all too well (especially after Tampa Bay) that there are no guarantees in his profession. And so, for the first time, he is giving serious consideration to giving up football.

“It won’t be a hasty decision,” he said Wednesday from his hotel room in Alameda. “Decisions made in a hurry are usually bad ones. I’ve got some time to think and I’ve also got to remember that I’m just a couple of days removed from major surgery.”

But Myers does have doubts. He has pursued athletic dreams almost since the time he could walk. The road has been marked by ups and downs. From his stellar career in baseball and football at North to becoming one of the best two-sport athletes ever in the South Atlantic Conference at Lenoir Rhyne.

Then to the Dolphins and the terrible kidney injury. Then to a long period of endless rehab. Then to Canada for two years to prove to the NFLpeople that his body could still stand the punishment. Then to Tampa Bay and that crushing disappointment. Then back home. Then to Oakland. And now to another severe injury.

“Comes a time when you wonder if maybe enough is enough,” said Myers. “I’ve been so close so many times, and that really, really hurts. But maybe it’s time to stop chasing the dream and just live a normal life like everyone else.”

Myers said that football has been tough on his family and has taken a toll on his relationships over the years.

“People thinks it’s a glamorous life because all they see is what happens on Sunday afternoons,”Myers said. “For me it’s been year-round sacrifice. Blood, sweat and tears for a long, long time. Maybe it’s time to devote myself to other areas. I’d like to have a family. I want to play with my kids in the backyard one day and I want to be healthy and in one piece.”

As Myers spoke about the past, the present and an uncertain future, his knee was packed in ice and he lay in a hotel bed 3,000 miles from his Spencer home, with Christmas just around the corner.

“I guess the holidays being here is what makes this thing really tough,” he said. “The people back home have been wonderful. My friends and family have always supported me through everything. But right now, I feel like I’m a million miles away from everyone.”

Myers likely won’t make a final decision on his future until spring. Until then, he’ll sweat through his rehab every day and pray every night that “God will show me the right door to open.”

“Every athlete gets to this point one day,” said Myers. “It scares me, but if I walk away from football it will be on my terms and I know I’ll have given it my best shot.”