Fan laughed at a missed NFL kick so hard he had a seizure — and it may have saved his life

Mark Toothaker's story will be used as an example for the phrase "at the right place, at the right time." According to Dexerto, last December, 59-year-old Toothaker was watching the game between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots in his Kentucky home. During the game, NFL star Younghoe Koo fumbled a field-goal attempt that cracked up Toothaker. He replayed the funny moment and was laughing when he began to have a seizure. Toothaker's wife, Malory, who sat reading next to him, immediately called 911 and took him to the hospital. To everyone's surprise, the seizure saved his life, as reported in an X post by @PolymarketSport on April 28.

Divine timing

Turns out, a few weeks before the seizure, Toothaker was driving and flying across the country, and there were no symptoms of any kind of illness. However, when he got to the hospital, the doctor examined him and did a CT scan, which led them to find a tumor in his brain the size of a tennis ball. According to CBS News, Toothaker was unaware that the tumor had moved his brain six millimeters to the right. He was immediately transferred to the University of Kentucky Hospital to get it removed. Thankfully, the tumor was benign, and there was no lasting damage. Additionally, Toothaker said that he had no memory whatsoever of the seizure. 

'Best-case scenario'

Toothaker owed his life to Koo's kick, saying, "(The) kicker saved my life because it could've happened any other time. I wholeheartedly believe I was in the right spot at the right time, and he was the trigger for that happening. It was a miracle." He was grateful to be at his own home when the seizure happened because it could have been dangerous for him and others. Malory was grateful for where it happened as well and called it the "best-case scenario." In her words, "To be in your own bed at home, not behind the wheel of a car or traveling, you're just so humbled and feel so blessed and just fortunate that if this had to happen, it was the best-case scenario."

Seizure as a warning sign

Studies show that seizures are the first sign of a brain tumor in roughly 30% to 60% of patients, and about one in five brain tumor cases involve seizure activity at diagnosis. Additionally, clinical research compiled in a 2021 NCBI review reported that up to 50% of brain tumor patients present with seizures as their first symptom, while another 10–30% develop them later in the disease.

While Toothaker felt bad about Koo's kick, he wouldn't have discovered the tumor without it. He concluded, "I know it wasn't his best moment, but it was beyond crazy. For she [Malory] and I to be belly-laughing at his expense, which I feel terrible about now, but it all worked out in the end, that for me it couldn't have been a better moment."

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