Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier visited his teammates Wednesday for the first time since suffering a spinal injury last month during a Monday Night Football game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
As stated by ESPN, Shazier was injured on December 4, and underwent spinal stabilization surgery three days later at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC).
Details on the extent of his injury have remained scarce, but a report by WPXI-Pittsburgh stated that he has recently regained feeling in his legs since the accident.
More recently, Shazier posted to Instagram a picture of him in a wheelchair at the Steelers' indoor practice facility.
In his post, Shazier credits God for allowing him to achieve this "first downs" by attending practice.
Shazier writes, "I want to thank the Lord for the first downs that he has been allowing me to achieve. The touchdown is going to come in his timing, but today was a first down. I was finally able to make it to practice with my teammates."
He continues, "The Lord has not finished his work yet," and he goes on to thank his friends, families and teammates for the outpouring of prayers.
His father, Vernon Shazier, is a chaplain with the NFL and has remained active on Twitter seeking prayers for his son using the hashtags "#shalieve" and "#prayfor50."
#prayfo50#jehovahrapha#Shalieve pic.twitter.com/4Cq6Uu6OuB
— Vernon J. Shazier (@VernonShazier) December 6, 2017
#prayfor50 pic.twitter.com/MPbQjueaZq
— Vernon J. Shazier (@VernonShazier) December 6, 2017
When life changes before you and fear grips you cling to the Lord who understands your every need, question and heart’s cry. I’m trusting God for a better tomorrow.#prayfor50#Shalieve pic.twitter.com/12XDO9Yir9
— Vernon J. Shazier (@VernonShazier) December 6, 2017
Remember to pray for 50 today. I won’t let you forget!!!#Shalieve#Prayfor50
— Vernon J. Shazier (@VernonShazier) January 10, 2018
Despite the heavy presence of prayer and mentions of God in both Shazier's posts and his father's, the Washington Post only quoted certain pieces.
The publication included Shazier's full Instagram post in the article, but cherry-picked out the pieces that weren't about God.
They made it seem like Shazier was only making a comeback on his own, quoting this excerpt: "I've been making strides over the past month and continue to make progress. Taking it day-by-day, but I'm far from done. They excluded the sentence that follows, The Lord has not finished his work yet."
They also chose not to include Shazier's faith references at the beginning where he cites God in saying, "the touchdown will come in his timing, but today was a first down."
The Associated Press followed a similar path, deleting "God" from Shazier's account of his recovery.