Missed field goal led to seizure, diagnosis of benign brain tumor

A missed NFL field goal turned into a medical emergency for Mark Toothaker, whose laughter at Younghoe Koo’s errant kick in a Patriots-Giants game led to a seizure and, ultimately, the discovery of a benign brain tumor.

The episode began in Foxboro, Massachusetts, where Toothaker was watching the game when Koo whiffed on the field goal attempt. Toothaker laughed so hard that he seized, a frightening turn that revealed far more than a fleeting reaction to a bad kick. A CT scan soon showed a tennis-ball-sized tumor on the left side of his brain, a finding that changed a bizarre moment of sports frustration into a life-saving diagnosis.

At first, his wife, Malory Toothaker, thought he was joking. A nurse at a rehabilitation hospital who works for a brain-injury doctor, she quickly realized something was wrong and called 911. Paramedics took him to a hospital, where doctors confirmed the seizure and the scan exposed the mass that had likely gone unnoticed until that moment. The tumor was large enough to cause concern but, after transfer to the University of Kentucky hospital, surgeons removed it and determined it was benign.

Toothaker was home by the end of the week with no lasting damage, an outcome that underscores how quickly a neurological emergency can escalate and how important it is not to dismiss sudden symptoms. Seizures can be caused by brain tumors and other brain conditions, and the case shows how a symptom that seems out of nowhere can point to an underlying problem that needs urgent attention.

The timing made the story even more striking. Toothaker is a stallion sales manager at Spendthrift Farms and part of the ownership group for Further Ado, which is set to run in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. He is expected to be at the track in Kentucky, grateful not just for the horse on the biggest stage of the spring, but for the missed kick that exposed a hidden threat before it could do worse.