It was just a shot.

Nothing special. Big orange ball, little round hoop, throw it up and hope it goes in.

For Katie Koestler, though, this was more than just enjoying a moment with some friends. It was a moment she thought she might never have again. A moment she’d been alternately dreaming of and dreading for the last three months.

Her hands had been shaking almost nonstop for that long. Only now, it was as much in anticipation of seeing the ball fly toward the goal as much as the ailment in her brain. It quickly passed as she felt the basketball in her hand, got used to the feel again and started remembering how to play the game.

Just a shot. One of thousands she’d taken in her life. One of hundreds that had been launched at the hoop that week alone, in dozens of pickup games, a couple of more meaningful practices, and a few games that counted.

And yet, this one meant more than any of them.

*

Something wasn’t quite right.

The basketball was supposed to bounce from the ground to her hand, just like it had always done. It was supposed to leave her hand on command, like it had always done, and zip through the net like it always did.

Instead, the ball seemed inches away and just out of reach as it clanged off Koestler’s hand and bounced away. Her shots were barely close to the rim, let alone the net. Basketball was her life. It was what she did, in a lot of ways a big part of who she was. The game was easy and fun for her. There were off-days, of course, but not like this.

Slowly, fear crept into her head. She’d been having headaches for a few days. Could they be the reason? What if it’s something serious? What’s going on in there?

Her mother, Carla, and two aunts played college ball. Katie, about to enter her senior season at St. Aloysius, was hoping to continue the tradition.

She saw extensive playing time for the Lady Flashes last season and was going to be a starter this year. She’d been to camps, worked hard over the summer, and spent countless hours practicing. She was ready to make an impact for a team with high hopes — St. Al had won the Division 7-1A tournament last season and another good year was a good possibility.

Then, in early September, the headaches started.

At first it didn’t seem like anything to worry about. Everybody gets a headache now and then. Only these kept coming back and were getting worse. After a week or so, they also seemed to be spreading to other parts of her body.

Her hands trembled. She was having trouble keeping her balance. Even picking things up was becoming difficult. Something wasn’t right.

“For a little while I was having headaches. Then I realized my hand wasn’t working as well as it should,” Koestler said. “I finally told mom there was something wrong.”

On Tuesday, Sept. 18, Carla Koestler decided to give her daughter a test. They went to the goal outside their house with a basketball to check Katie’s reflexes. Katie flunked. She couldn’t catch Carla’s passes. Dribbling with her left hand was extremely difficult, and shooting was a nightmare.

The next day they went to Good Samaritan Physical Therapy for a motor skills test. The results were alarming enough that Good Samaritan owner Tammy Davenport quickly referred the Koestlers to Vicksburg doctor Calvin Masterson, who noticed one of Katie’s pupils was dilated. He ordered a CAT scan at River Region Medical Center that afternoon.

“He told us it was either a mild stroke, or a mass, or possibly a mild sinus infection,” Carla Koestler said.

After the CAT scan, the actual diagnosis was an inner-cranial hemorrhage in the center of the brain. Katie’s brain was bleeding. Worse, there was little anyone could do about it. The blood was pooling deep in her brain, in a location that made it impossible to operate without doing even more damage. It could be treated, to an extent, with drugs. But doctors were helpless to completely cure it.

“We thought it was a tumor and it might have to be taken out. After the CAT scan we found out that wasn’t the case,” Carla Koestler said. “You just hope the body will absorb the blood and the brain fluids will drain on their own. And with time, God will take care of it.”

Carla Koestler wanted to be honest with her daughter, to tell her the bad news and what their options were, but the words were hard to come by.

“I knew there was something wrong. She was trying not to tell me, but I can always tell when she has bad news,” Katie said.

Katie added that the words were just as hard to take.

“I can’t give any advice on how to take news like that,” she said. “You just take it and deal with it.”

That included trying to keep things as normal as possible at home, and keeping basketball on the front burner. After several months of searching failed to turn up a full-time girls basketball coach at St. Al, Carla Koestler took the job. Her intent was to make sure her daughter and her teammates wouldn’t have to cancel the season. Once Katie’s illness hit, however, it also became a way to maintain some normalcy in their lives.

“Once she realized she wasn’t going to be there to play, that was a way for her to be there,” Carla said.

It was difficult for Carla to be in two places at once, though. Taking Katie to Jackson for therapy left little time to coach a team. Several friends helped out — former Porters Chapel coach Mitchell Willis and ex-Delta State coach Lloyd Clark were among several people who filled in for Koestler at practice — but after several weeks it became clear Carla couldn’t do both. She stepped down as St. Al’s coach on Nov. 13, and the school hired Carolyn Bradley.

By then, however, Carla said the family had made peace with the situation. Katie continues to attend games and some practices when she can. Carla is also around the team on a regular basis, helping out as an assistant at practice when she can.

“She’s had so many things taken away from her that that was one thing I didn’t want to go, too,” Carla said in a Vicksburg Post article on Nov. 16. “She’s ready to move on. But at first she wanted me to do it for them.”

*

Katie’s condition improved enough for her to leave the hospital on Sept. 26, but she soon had a relapse. She returned to University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson for more treatment on Oct. 4, and spent a month there alternating between treatments and physical therapy.

Although doctors couldn’t operate on Katie’s hemorrhage, they could treat it. UMC has a machine designed specifically to drain fluid from the skull — one of only five in the country. Koestler went in for a treatment, but the machine malfunctioned after she was anesthetized. The procedure was never performed.

So doctors turned to drugs and other methods to treat her condition. Until late October, she was on steroids to reduce swelling in the brain, but also obviously bulked up her body and left her previously clear-complexioned face pockmarked with acne. She had to wear glasses with tape over one lens to correct double vision and problems with depth perception.

Katie also had to learn how to do things again. Her brain still has trouble telling the body to move. Along with strength-building exercises like leg lifts and riding a stationary bike, her therapy sessions include using a screwdriver to improve her dexterity.

“I don’t even remember how I used to sit. I’m having to re-learn how to use screws and take off the toothpaste top. Little, simple things are hard,” Katie said. “It gets frustrating because I used to could do everything. Now I can’t. The hardest thing is having people do stuff for me. I’m an independent person.”

Not doing things for Katie is what’s hard on her parents. They have to sit idly by and watch as their daughter struggles, so she can learn to do things on her own again.

“You have to keep reminding yourself that she can do it,” Carla Koestler said.

Slowly but surely, however, Katie is doing it.

Two weeks ago, her vision improved enough to remove the tape from her glasses. Her hands still shake, but her dexterity is getting better. Best of all, she was finally able to pick up a basketball again. She played a game of P-I-G with her brother Carlisle — and won. The next day she visited St. Al’s girls team during practice and shot around with her friends and teammates.

“Everything was almost coming back to normal. I was expecting to be like a 2-year-old out there,” Katie said with a laugh.

On Tuesday, the Koestlers will celebrate a truly special Christmas — one they weren’t sure they’d have just three months ago. They’ll open presents and visit with family. Nothing special. Just another Christmas. One of many the family will celebrate together.

And, thankfully, one of many to come.

“When you have a sickness like this with your child and there’s nothing you can do, you just ask God to take care of them. This Christmas we’re going to be thanking Him. He performed a miracle in our life, and we’re thankful,” Carla Koestler said. “All the doctors keep asking why she’s still here. It’s our Christmas miracle, and God’s given us a good one.”