Elie Draper has time on her side when her son Owen has a Little League game. She can afford to be late when she knows the 8-year-old will not start for the Vacaville American Aviators. And she will arrive even later when she is scheduled to provide snacks and juice for Owen and his teammates.

Owen missed out on all the goodies May 13, however, when it was his mother’s turn to bring them. He left the game at Centennial Park in the first inning after collapsing in the dugout. Elie rode in the ambulance with Owen to the hospital. Her car was left at the field with the snacks and juice inside.

Her husband Bill followed in his car after asking Elie’s mother to look after Owen’s 6-year-old brother Aidan and the Drapers’ dog Bailey. Elie and Bill met at the hospital with no idea what was wrong with Owen. It was hours later when they learned he had a brain aneurysm. 

Elie and Bill waited in the hallway outside the room in which doctors examined Owen to determine how they could save his life. “The doctors were saying they didn’t know if he would make it,” Elie said. “We didn’t know if he would make it. So many things could have gone wrong. There were so many moments like that.”

Owen was transferred to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento that night and has been there for nearly six weeks. He was allowed to go outside for the first time last Saturday after Bill and Elie talked the staff into letting Owen go out in a wheelchair. They did not need to talk Owen into going.

His parents promised to play it safe, but Owen was ready to roll. “We were taking it a little bit at a time, but he would look at us and say ‘Keep walking,’” Elie said. “It was an hour of freedom for him. It’s so joyful to see him get excited. Little by little, he’s starting to get his independence back.”

Elie takes daily notes to track Owen’s progress, so she remembers Owen smiling for the first time on May 31. When Owen’s eyes opened June 13, she mouthed “I love you” and he responded. “He opened his mouth and a little sound came out. I got real close to hear him and he said ‘I love you.’”

Owen’s feeding tube was removed on June 16, so Elie offered to get him whatever he wanted to eat. He asked for a hamburger and french fries even though his mother frowns on her sons eating fast food. Now that Owen can eat on his own, Elie joked that he has gained four pounds in a week.

His hospital room has been stocked with snacks, but none of them are left over from the stash in Elie’s car May 13. Those postgame snacks are still in bags that have been on the Drapers’ kitchen counter for five weeks. Once Owen can go home, the goodies will not be there for much longer.