The comeback: Anthony Mercado returns from crash and a coma

Anthony Mercado dropped his head cautiously as he entered the gate at Lake Balboa Birmingham’s football stadium with soccer coach EB Madha at his side. Dark clouds that had brought small amounts of rain were dissipating, replaced by a clearing sky.

The sound of soccer balls being kicked came to an abrupt halt. Suddenly, there was a crescendo of clapping hands. Mercado kept walking onto the field as teammates moved toward him. One by one, they greeted him with hugs and tightly grasped his hand.

Many had spent time in the courtyard of Northridge Hospital Medical Center praying and pleading that Mercado would wake up from his coma after being hit by an alleged drunken driver on an isolated, dark street in the Sepulveda Basin on a Friday night last October.

“At the beginning, it was just praying he wakes up and that he lives,� Madha recalled. “We didn’t think much of him coming back to play.�

Wearing a mask, blue sweat shirt and shorts, Mercado stretched his legs, then joined his teammates in warmups as if nothing had happened over the last five months.

“We’re just astonished, pleased and really happy,� Madha said.

This was no ordinary comeback attempt.

The Nightmare

The first 911 call was received by dispatch at 11:31 p.m. on Oct. 16, 2020, according to a redacted incident report obtained from the Los Angeles Fire Department. Two cars were involved in a collision off Woodley Boulevard near Burbank Bouldevard. It’s an area where people jog and walk during daylight. LAFD would dispatch three paramedic ambulances, two fire engines and two Light Force vehicles. The first arrived at 11:40 p.m. LAPD units also were sent.

Mercado, an 18-year-old senior at Birmingham, was standing next to his parked car talking to another person when a car smashed into his car, sending him flying, according to his father, who asked for anonymity because of privacy concerns. Mercado and the other person would suffer critical brain trauma injuries. The other crash victim would die from her injuries. The driver of the car, identified as 25-year-old Yuvia Iris Vargaspena, would be arrested on suspicion of felony DUI.

The Los Angeles District Attorney’s office filed three felony counts against the driver, including gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. A prelimiminary hearing is scheduled for April 12 in Van Nuys Superior Court.

Around midnight, Mercado’s father started calling his son trying to find out why he wasn’t home. He had a curfew and always made it. The phone call went to voicemail and Anthony wasn’t responding to text messages.

“I didn’t get any answer and started getting worried,� his father said. “I called the police and asked if there were any reports of an accident. Thirty minutes later, they called me and said he was at Northridge Hospital.�

So began a vigil no parent wants to endure.

“A million things go through your mind,� his father said. “And when I got there I couldn’t believe it.�

The uncertainty

Mercado had a broken collarbone but more troubling was his head injury. He would be in a coma for 15 days. Doctors had few answers about the future.

“When you ask, ’Is he going to talk?’ They don’t tell you. It was a pretty bad moment asking doctors, ‘Will he walk?’ They don’t tell you. They tell you they don’t know. It’s intense,� Mercado’s father said.

Senior soccer standout Anthony Miron still remembers the night of the accident.

“I was terrified,� he said. “I was really scared. I grew up playing with him. He’s like a brother. It broke my heart. I texted his phone. I got nothing.�

Mercado finally woke up, but he did not talk.

“He would just look at us with his eyes open. We would tell him to give us a thumbs up,� his father said.

It would take a week after regaining consciousness for Mercado to respond when his aunt gave him ice chips. Soon he wanted to talk. So began the rehabilitation process.

“What surprised me was my memory and the accident,� Mercado said. “I never suspected what happened to me.�

He said he has no memory of the accident.

“I don’t remember what I was in the hospital for,� he said. “I guess I was in a coma and woke up. I thought I was in for soccer injury.�

Moving forward

Mercado was a key player for Birmingham’s City Section championship soccer team in 2019 as a sophomore. Soccer had been put on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that tragic October night challenged him unlike anything else he had encountered. He’d spend the ensuing months trying to regain his strength and mobility, and try to stay on track to graduate.

“They’ve done a lot of assessments on me and say I’m getting better and better,� Mercado said.

After working out with his father, Mercado received clearance to begin practicing with Birmingham. He will soon see a neurologist seeking clearance to play in a game.

It’s quite a comeback tale.

“I know he’s a real hard worker in everything he does,� Madha said. “His goal from the time he woke up was to come back and play. If anyone can do it, Anthony has the drive, the spirit, the character, the will.�

Birmingham soccer player Anthony Mercado laces up his shoes before his first practice with the team this spring.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

On March 12, the day Mercado was back with his teammates on the practice field, the first one to greet him was Miron, who placed both of his arms around Mercado to comfort him. The initial tentative steps Mercado had taken walking through the gate were forgotten. Now he was looking straight into the eyes of his best friends, the ones who had prayed for him to recover.

He was back with his soccer family playing the sport he loves.

“Physically, his knee is still bothering him,� Mercado’s father said. “He’s not 100%, but after five months he’s progressing.�

The nightmare is over. The comeback is really beginning.