I think @Bulldog nailed it: “be the rock for him as best you can.”
My son had various sprains/concussions over the years, but was really tested going into Junior year with an unusual complete pcl tear. He needed and deserved to have his own reactions without dealing with my anxiety or sense of loss. It became a deeply spiritual time for him, a time when he really figured out what he was capable of and how he wanted to show up in the world. He knew he could lose baseball and his PT told him his knee would just always hurt sometimes and never be back to normal. He worked and worked and worked to make his knees stronger. He played junior year in a metal brace, until Covid canceled the season.
The story hasn’t ended, but he went from a promising Sophomore to the team captain and MVP his senior year. From being a pretty slow runner to breaking a school record for stolen bags. He could teach the average PT a bit about how to build bulletproof knees. He was always centered, but he found a spiritual center during this time that I couldn’t have given him.
The day he signed to play college ball (JuCo), we were driving out of the school and I pointed out we were at the ortho surgeon a year ago exactly, hearing the news of the MRI. I tried to manage my own emotions throughout the injury, but let off a good cry at that point.
edit: It didn’t appear to be a “deeply spiritual” time at the time - it sucked and was kinda depressing and scary for all. But in retrospect…
