When you head to an MLB game, what do you expect? Apart from maybe the ninth-inning rally, maybe hot dogs and cheers for your team? Here is what you don’t expect—wake up in a hospital bed, and wonder how you’re still alive. But that has been the reality Kavan Markwood has been living with since April, when a celebration at PNC Park turned into his biggest nightmare as of yet.

Markwood, who was just 20 years old at the time, fell 21 feet from the right field wall onto the warning track. It was during a Pirates and Cubs game, and he had leapt to celebrate Andrew McCutchen’s single. However, he landed weirdly on the railing and then fell headfirst over the edge. The stadium had gone from cheers to silence, watching the young fan simply lie motionless on the field.

The paramedics rushed him to the hospital, and then the gruesome reality of the injury was revealed by the doctors. Markwood suffered a broken back, a broken neck, and a punctured lung, and had fractures to every rib. Markwood himself, in an early interview, mentioned that he had essentially “broken everything.” But against the odds, he survived, and not just that, he even came back to sit in the very ballpark where it all happened.

Bob Nightengale reminded everyone how remarkable this feat actually is. “Remember the 20-year-old who fell over the 21-foot right-field wall onto the field at PNC Park in April? Well, Kavan Markwood is back attending baseball games, telling ‘Inside Edition’ that he’s still in pain and doesn’t have feeling in two of his fingers, but, hey, he’s alive.”

Now, for sure, the physical pain and the scars are still there. Markwood mentioned that he still feels nothing in two of his fingers. But the emotional toll it took on him has no bounds, too. He admitted that he often relives that accident time and again. He also carries the burden of knowing that his close friend Ethan Kirkwood now faces misdemeanor charges connected to administering drinks to him that night. Although Markwood says that external influence was not a factor and that this was simply “a tragic accident.”

Through it all, though, MLB fans have come through and stayed true to their own. A GoFundMe campaign was raised to help with his medical bill, and it did great. A reminder that the Pirates community takes care of its own; all the while, Markwood came through to not let the trauma of the accident take over, but returned to PNC Park.

But is it always the same with the league?

When MLB is more business than heart!

Baseball is supposed to be about the heart, the community, and people coming together over a bigger game than just the score. But ever so often, you get the perspective that it’s all business beneath it all. And this time, regarding this entire accident, a reminder came in from David Samson, the ex-Marlins president, that highlights the same.

The former Miami Marlins president had lit a storm when he spoke about Kavan Markwood. Instead of focusing on the human side of the tragedy, he focused on the balance sheet; he mentioned that if he were the one running the Pirates, he wouldn’t cover Markwood’s medical bills. That is beyond the first aid and the hospital transfers. Anything else, Samson said, would be a seemingly PR move! Not just that, he even suggested settling potential legal fallout for no more than five figures.

This was unsettling to fans because Markwood was not just another name in the file; he was a young man, and he had no parents to lean on.

But unlike Samson, the community stepped up, and Jennifer Phillips was the frontrunner. She organized a GoFundMe that raised more than $70,000, which went on to help the 20-year-old. Not just that, Phillips also reminded everyone, “Please be considerate during this tragic time. Also, thank you for all the other love and prayers that everyone is sending. I have created this fundraiser because of the tragedy that occurred a few evenings ago at PNC Park. This fundraiser will help to assist with any medical bills and financial hardships that this family is experiencing right now. Every donation, no matter how small, will make a big difference.”

And yes, a difference it did make, and now, finally, Markwood is well enough to return to PNC Park. So maybe this is the part that’s worth the spotlight, not the cold math!