Most NFL fans probably forgot about the missed field goal almost immediately. Mark Toothaker never will.
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The Kentucky resident was relaxing at home with his wife last December, watching the New York Giants face the New England Patriots on "Monday Night Football," when a routine missed kick suddenly turned into something far more significant.
After Giants kicker Younghoe Koo whiffed on a field-goal attempt, Toothaker burst out laughing while watching the replay.
Then everything changed.
"I've never felt anything like this in my life," Toothaker told The Associated Press. "I felt like I got electrocuted."
The laughter triggered a seizure. Fortunately, Toothaker was exactly where he needed to be.
His wife, Malory, is a nurse who works with a brain-injury specialist. After initially thinking he was joking, she quickly realized something was wrong and called 911.
Doctors soon discovered a tennis-ball-sized tumor on the left side of Toothaker's brain.
"When you hear the news, 'You've got a brain tumor,' that's what nobody wants to hear," Malory said.
The frightening diagnosis turned out to have a happy ending. Surgeons successfully removed the tumor at the University of Kentucky hospital, and tests later revealed it was benign. Toothaker returned home just days later and has suffered no lasting effects.
Looking back, the 59-year-old believes that missed kick may have saved his life.
"The kicker saved my life because it could've happened any other time," Toothaker said. "I wholeheartedly believe I was in the right spot at the right time."
What makes the story even more remarkable is that Toothaker had experienced no symptoms. He had been traveling extensively for work, driving long distances and flying across the country without any indication that something was wrong.
"I could have had it on a plane, anywhere," he said. "I didn't kill anybody. I didn't run over a family in my Expedition running up and down the road."
These days, Toothaker is healthy and grateful. In fact, he joked that he'd love to invite Koo to the Kentucky Derby as his guest.
Sure, the missed kick wasn't exactly a career highlight for the veteran kicker. Still, it may have wound up changing — and possibly saving — someone's life.
As Toothaker put it, "For me it couldn't have been a better moment."
