Central Michigan University Athletics
Jay Mac Battles Back
7/8/2021 9:15:00 AM | Football
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Jay McDowell is the class clown you remember from high school, your brother-in-law who keeps you laughing at otherwise dry family functions, the loyal teddy bear you want on your side should trouble erupt.
Quick witted and affable, "Jay Mac" is a constant presence in the Central Michigan football program. The Louisiana native is now in his 11th year as the Chippewas' video operations coordinator, a critical component in the machinations of the program both for team evaluation and opponent scouting. He has twice been named the MAC Video Coordinator of the Year during his time at CMU.
He can't wait to get back on the football field with the Chippewas and back in his office. That could come as early as Aug. 1. That he is on track to reach that goal is somewhat of a miracle after what he has endured over the past six months.
It was the fight of his life as he literally fought for his life.
"I've said it a million times, and I told my wife and my doctors, that whenever the day comes where I have to meet my maker, I hope I can stand there physically and emotionally exhausted so that He knows I used everything that he gave me," McDowell said. "It's just how I've approached this; it's the only way to approach it."
The Onset
The demands of his job, most notably the necessary travel, had progressively taken a toll on his surgically repaired back. Yet he continued to work.
"I'm going to do what I'm supposed to do," said McDowell in his distinctive Creole native-Louisiana drawl. "I'm not going to leave my team or my coaches high and dry."
Nearing the end of CMU's COVID-shortened schedule in November, McDowell said he woke up the morning after a game with the now-constant back pain.
A trip to the ER and a short hospital stay to address on-going back issues led to McDowell becoming infected with COVID-19 and bigger issues to come.
"Yeah, my back hurt, but something else just didn't seem right," said McDowell, who is nearly three decades into a career as a video coordinator that has taken him from Southern Mississippi to Colorado and Louisiana Monroe. "I was having hot flashes, a bit of a headache.
"I went from Monday morning just feeling a little off to Monday night I was full tilt and under 24-hour surveillance in ICU with COVID," he said.
Working and Battling
Despite the fact that he was in the intensive care unit, McDowell continued to work remotely on his laptop computer while his football video staff, comprised entirely of students, carried out the day-to-day tasks of videotaping practices and games.
"Doctors and nurses were screaming at me, 'Quit working!' McDowell said. "They're like, 'Get off the computer!' And I'd say, 'No, I've got to finish this.'"
Like a heavyweight fighter, McDowell managed to stay on his feet, figuratively, until the bell of the final round, the Chippewas' last game of the season.
"I was able to get through the season before it all came crashing down," he said. "When it was all over with, I finally just let go and cut loose. After that game is when things really went south. Hard.
"The only thing I have is what people have told me happened. I have zero recall."
Good thing. It wouldn't be a pleasant memory.
Complications
McDowell suffered a ruptured colon and, making matters worse, doctors could not immediately operate because of COVID. McDowell slipped into a coma and he would not undergo surgery until Christmas Eve, when doctors removed about 30 inches of his small intestine.
"They cut me from right under my chest all the way down to about two inches past my belt line," he said. "They opened me up."
More complications followed, including difficulty breathing and a low heart rate. He was transferred to a hospital in Midland and put under the care of a heart specialist, spending another week in a coma.
"I don't remember anything," said McDowell who, even at 47, looks like he could strap on the pads and play defensive end, his 280 healthy pounds distributed evenly on an athletic 6-foot-4 frame; and his long hair slicked back into a ponytail gives him the image of a hard-boiled biker, belying an ever-present congeniality.
"The nurses and the doctors were unbelievable," he said. "The rehab women were first class doesn't begin to describe the way they treated me. I wasn't just somebody; they actually saw a husband, a father, a son laying in the bed.
"They saved my life."
He dropped some 70 pounds, required 24-hour assistant and when he returned to the hospital in Alma from Midland, he ran into more digestive complications.
"I went from working out like crazy to … it took everything I had just to turn my head left and right," he said. "When I was in the coma they had told my wife that you may want to start to get your affairs in order because they didn't think I was ever going to come out of it."
And yet, he did. He is 70 pounds lighter than his playing weight – "210 is the lightest I've been since college" – he said.
"They were absolutely floored that I pulled out of that," he said. "Every doctor in Midland was absolutely floored that I pulled out of that. I told them, 'Good, I'm here to piss people off; I love it.'"
Going Home
After 81 days in the hospital, "Jay Mac" went home in February to his wife, Misty, and children, 17-year-old son Dakota and 13-year-old daughter Mia.
"You can't put it into words," says the normally loquacious McDowell, his words catching in his throat. "I don't even want to know what was going through their heads. My kids had to be strong and God only knows what my wife went through; they couldn't even come and see me (because of COVID). There'd be days that I didn't even talk to Misty on the phone because I just didn't even have it in me to do.
"Strong woman."
The outpouring of support has been nothing short of remarkable, McDowell said, from those in and around the Chippewa football program and the athletic department, to current and former players, more than a decade's worth. The well-wishers came from coaches McDowell formerly worked with at other stops across the nation, from his peers in the college football video coordinator ranks.
Offerings, such as food and money, have also poured into the family home in Mount Pleasant.
Print and bind the messages of encouragement left on McDowell's Facebook page, and you'd have the equivalent of a dictionary.
"Month and a half, two months ago I finally got brave enough to go back and read all of it," he says, is voice catching again. "I'm getting better every day. Surgery to reverse the colostomy. Right now, my doctor has me projected to be back in the office on Aug. 1."
He has a lot for which to be grateful and he realizes – if he didn't before – the impact he has had on so many. It isn't about the skill or how well one performs the job, but it's about the man doing the job.
And who that man is on the inside.
"I've never worked a day in my life," McDowell said. "I don't think I could do any other job. I don't think it's in me.
"You put your faith where your faith needs to be, and then you fight. That's all you can do. You take it each day; you can't quit. They're not going to bury me yet. That ain't happening yet."
Quick witted and affable, "Jay Mac" is a constant presence in the Central Michigan football program. The Louisiana native is now in his 11th year as the Chippewas' video operations coordinator, a critical component in the machinations of the program both for team evaluation and opponent scouting. He has twice been named the MAC Video Coordinator of the Year during his time at CMU.
He can't wait to get back on the football field with the Chippewas and back in his office. That could come as early as Aug. 1. That he is on track to reach that goal is somewhat of a miracle after what he has endured over the past six months.
It was the fight of his life as he literally fought for his life.
"I've said it a million times, and I told my wife and my doctors, that whenever the day comes where I have to meet my maker, I hope I can stand there physically and emotionally exhausted so that He knows I used everything that he gave me," McDowell said. "It's just how I've approached this; it's the only way to approach it."
The Onset
The demands of his job, most notably the necessary travel, had progressively taken a toll on his surgically repaired back. Yet he continued to work.
"I'm going to do what I'm supposed to do," said McDowell in his distinctive Creole native-Louisiana drawl. "I'm not going to leave my team or my coaches high and dry."
Nearing the end of CMU's COVID-shortened schedule in November, McDowell said he woke up the morning after a game with the now-constant back pain.
A trip to the ER and a short hospital stay to address on-going back issues led to McDowell becoming infected with COVID-19 and bigger issues to come.
"Yeah, my back hurt, but something else just didn't seem right," said McDowell, who is nearly three decades into a career as a video coordinator that has taken him from Southern Mississippi to Colorado and Louisiana Monroe. "I was having hot flashes, a bit of a headache.
"I went from Monday morning just feeling a little off to Monday night I was full tilt and under 24-hour surveillance in ICU with COVID," he said.
Working and Battling
Despite the fact that he was in the intensive care unit, McDowell continued to work remotely on his laptop computer while his football video staff, comprised entirely of students, carried out the day-to-day tasks of videotaping practices and games.
"Doctors and nurses were screaming at me, 'Quit working!' McDowell said. "They're like, 'Get off the computer!' And I'd say, 'No, I've got to finish this.'"
Like a heavyweight fighter, McDowell managed to stay on his feet, figuratively, until the bell of the final round, the Chippewas' last game of the season.
"I was able to get through the season before it all came crashing down," he said. "When it was all over with, I finally just let go and cut loose. After that game is when things really went south. Hard.
"The only thing I have is what people have told me happened. I have zero recall."
Good thing. It wouldn't be a pleasant memory.
Complications
McDowell suffered a ruptured colon and, making matters worse, doctors could not immediately operate because of COVID. McDowell slipped into a coma and he would not undergo surgery until Christmas Eve, when doctors removed about 30 inches of his small intestine.
"They cut me from right under my chest all the way down to about two inches past my belt line," he said. "They opened me up."
More complications followed, including difficulty breathing and a low heart rate. He was transferred to a hospital in Midland and put under the care of a heart specialist, spending another week in a coma.
"I don't remember anything," said McDowell who, even at 47, looks like he could strap on the pads and play defensive end, his 280 healthy pounds distributed evenly on an athletic 6-foot-4 frame; and his long hair slicked back into a ponytail gives him the image of a hard-boiled biker, belying an ever-present congeniality.
"The nurses and the doctors were unbelievable," he said. "The rehab women were first class doesn't begin to describe the way they treated me. I wasn't just somebody; they actually saw a husband, a father, a son laying in the bed.
"They saved my life."
He dropped some 70 pounds, required 24-hour assistant and when he returned to the hospital in Alma from Midland, he ran into more digestive complications.
"I went from working out like crazy to … it took everything I had just to turn my head left and right," he said. "When I was in the coma they had told my wife that you may want to start to get your affairs in order because they didn't think I was ever going to come out of it."
And yet, he did. He is 70 pounds lighter than his playing weight – "210 is the lightest I've been since college" – he said.
"They were absolutely floored that I pulled out of that," he said. "Every doctor in Midland was absolutely floored that I pulled out of that. I told them, 'Good, I'm here to piss people off; I love it.'"
Going Home
After 81 days in the hospital, "Jay Mac" went home in February to his wife, Misty, and children, 17-year-old son Dakota and 13-year-old daughter Mia.
"You can't put it into words," says the normally loquacious McDowell, his words catching in his throat. "I don't even want to know what was going through their heads. My kids had to be strong and God only knows what my wife went through; they couldn't even come and see me (because of COVID). There'd be days that I didn't even talk to Misty on the phone because I just didn't even have it in me to do.
"Strong woman."
The outpouring of support has been nothing short of remarkable, McDowell said, from those in and around the Chippewa football program and the athletic department, to current and former players, more than a decade's worth. The well-wishers came from coaches McDowell formerly worked with at other stops across the nation, from his peers in the college football video coordinator ranks.
Offerings, such as food and money, have also poured into the family home in Mount Pleasant.
Print and bind the messages of encouragement left on McDowell's Facebook page, and you'd have the equivalent of a dictionary.
"Month and a half, two months ago I finally got brave enough to go back and read all of it," he says, is voice catching again. "I'm getting better every day. Surgery to reverse the colostomy. Right now, my doctor has me projected to be back in the office on Aug. 1."
He has a lot for which to be grateful and he realizes – if he didn't before – the impact he has had on so many. It isn't about the skill or how well one performs the job, but it's about the man doing the job.
And who that man is on the inside.
"I've never worked a day in my life," McDowell said. "I don't think I could do any other job. I don't think it's in me.
"You put your faith where your faith needs to be, and then you fight. That's all you can do. You take it each day; you can't quit. They're not going to bury me yet. That ain't happening yet."
Elijah Reynolds - Fresh Faces Series
Friday, May 22
Forged Through Adversity | Darrell Bryant’s Journey from the Army to Central Michigan Football
Friday, May 22
Mental Health Awareness Month: Angel Flores Advocates for Mental Health | Central Michigan Football
Monday, May 18
Beyond the Game - Pickleball with Brock Townsend
Tuesday, May 12