Family holds out hope for ex-Cowboy Springs
Daughter asks for prayers for the former Cowboys running back
12:19 AM CDT on Thursday, October 18, 2007
By BARRY HORN / The Dallas Morning News
bhorn@***BANNED-URL***
Ron Springs' oldest daughter Wednesday night asked for prayers for her comatose father.
"No one determines when my father leaves this earth but God himself," Ayra Springs wrote in an e-mail. "We just would like everyone to PRAY FOR HIM."
The Springs family was upset with a report posted Wednesday afternoon on ***BANNED-URL*** that doctors had told the family there was no hope the former Cowboys running back would survive.
"The doctors are not supposed to release that type of information," Ayra wrote in the e-mail.
The ***BANNED-URL*** report was attributed to a person with knowledge of the situation.
Springs, 50, has been unconscious since soon after entering Medical City Dallas Hospital last week for what friends say he believed was a routine procedure to remove a cyst from one of his arms.
His family – which includes his wife Adriane; Ayra, a recent Ohio State graduate; and Shawn, a defensive back with the Washington Commanders – has kept a vigil at the hospital. Former Cowboys teammates have been frequent visitors.
It remains unclear how or why Springs lapsed into a coma. The hospital has refused comment since news of Springs' condition was first reported Tuesday. Family members had been unavailable for comment.
Springs, who suffers from diabetes, made national headlines when word leaked in December that he would receive a needed kidney transplant from ex-teammate Everson Walls.
The two met in 1981, when Walls was a free-agent rookie cornerback from Grambling State and the veteran Springs, from Ohio State, helped ease his transition into the NFL and life as a Cowboy. A friendship blossomed that later extended to their wives and children.
The Springs-Walls transplant, which took place on Feb. 28, was the first between two former U.S. professional athletes.
Since then, Springs and Walls have worked to raise money to endow a foundation – Gift for Life – they hoped would battle diabetes through education and early detection, especially in children, as well as raise organ donation awareness.
Springs and Walls returned to Texas Stadium to promote their project, serving as honorary co-captains for the Cowboys' season opener against the New York Giants in September.
