1 year after accident, Kashirsky has powered through recovery

CHICAGO -- There are really just two times in Mike Kashirsky’s exceedingly upbeat life where he can remember getting angry.

One of those situations came early in 2022, after the White Sox pregame instructor survived a car accident in the southwest suburbs of Chicago and was going through intense rehabilitation therapy at Loyola University hospitals to work his way back from three compressed fractures in his spine and a burst bottom vertebrae.

Doctors were worried about Kashirsky being able to walk again. Kashirsky quickly dismissed that, focused on getting back to life with the White Sox and his offseason work as a college basketball referee.

“I’m going to be back,” Kashirsky said of his message to the doctors. “I’m like, ‘No, no, no. I’m going to throw BP [with the White Sox] and I’m going to be on the court. So, you need to get on the same page as me.’

“My wife was like, ‘You have to tone it down,’ but that’s just my mindset. That’s how I am.”

On Dec. 28, 2021, Kashirsky was on his way to the airport to fly to Texas to work a basketball game in the Western Athletic Conference. He felt great, had a morning workout and breakfast, and remembers driving.

Then, like a bad movie, his next memory was waking up in the hospital with his wife, Jackie, by his side. A bystander told Jackie that Kashirsky had rolled his car three times before hitting a tree. No one else was injured. Rescue workers had to cut him out through the windshield, as the car was upside down and totaled.

The medical condition leading to the accident was diagnosed as late-onset seizures, the same problem that caused Kashirsky to collapse while working out on a hotel treadmill in Kansas City in 2019. But it wasn’t diagnosed until after this second and more severe accident, as Kashirsky underwent a 48-hour test showing most of his seizures occurred in his sleep.

“This one was a little scary because when I woke up, they were like, ‘Hey, we are testing to see if you are paralyzed. You have a spine injury,’” Kashirsky said. “I was a little freaked out at the time. But it turned out OK.”

Along with the back injuries, Kashirsky suffered a torn flexor tendon in his left arm. It was surgically repaired two weeks after his accident. He didn’t have surgery on his back because of the risk of paralysis. Kashirsky could barely move for a month to let everything heal. It was a challenge.

As a pregame instructor, Kashirsky throws batting practice to White Sox hitters and is the team’s point man on video reviews. Getting to throw BP at Guaranteed Rate Field for the 2022 home opener on April 12 and hearing his name called during pregame introductions became two of his recovery goals. Kashirsky also aimed to be on the court for his first refereeing assignment of the season, Utah State against Utah Valley on Nov. 7.

Mission accomplished on all three.

Kashirsky gave a great deal of credit to his wife and his two sons for providing immense support and assistance. He also heaped praise upon the referee community, the White Sox coaching staff and their wives, and White Sox general manager Rick Hahn and assistant general manager Jeremy Haber.

Hahn contacted Kashirsky’s wife on the day of the accident, according to Kashirsky, letting them know the organization would be there for whatever was needed.

“It kind of chokes me up,” Kashirsky said. “You don’t want to say you are low man on the totem pole, but the players are No. 1, and for them to do what they did -- to reach out like that -- and the support I got through this hard time was unbelievable.”

Medicine has since controlled the seizures for Kashirsky, who feels great after working the full 2022 season. Even in the toughest of times, it was never a "why me?" moment for Kashirsky. He actually felt lucky, staying true to his positive nature.

“To get to where you want to be, you have to go through the mud sometimes and have some hard times and face adversity,” said Kashirsky, who will be working with his fourth White Sox manager in 2023. “This is definitely really hard and trying, but I tried to keep my mindset of being positive, and the people I’ve surrounded myself with really helped me get through.

“In my mind, it was a question of when. It was, ‘We can do this.’”