‘He’d Hate Me If I Stopped My Life’ : Volleyball Standout Nina Foster Presses On as Father Lies in Coma

It was a sight no child should ever have to wake up to.

Early in the morning on May 10, Nina Foster wandered into the kitchen of the Mission Viejo apartment and found her father collapsed on the floor. Clayton Foster, 42, who had raised his daughter alone, had suffered his second stroke in three years.

Nina’s instincts took over. First, survival. Nina dialed 911. Second, support. She phoned her best friend Analisa Saylor.

Paramedics took Clayton Foster and his daughter to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo. While doctors treated Clayton, Saylor and her mother, Marge Wilson, waited at the hospital with Nina.

“It was frustrating, thinking about some things you wanted to say that you never got to,” Foster said. “My dad and I had a really good relationship. It was always just me and him against the world.

“The night before he collapsed, we were joking around, and I was kidding him about some things. He told me, ‘See how you treat me?’ We laughed, but you wish that you had more time.”

Life hasn’t been easy for Nina Foster and her father, but she has found strength within herself and support from her closest friends.

“Nina went through a hard time when Clayton had the first stroke three years ago,” Wilson said. “He was out of money, out of a job. Nina wanted to stay at Mission Viejo High, so in her sophomore year, we took her in.

“I’ve kind of adopted her and took her under my wing. She’s part of my family.”

Nina is staying with Wilson now, as she did three years ago when Clayton was hospitalized after his first stroke.

Clayton always encouraged his daughter to stick with her studies so she could go to college. And Clayton and Nina’s surrogate family watched her fulfill those dreams when she earned a scholarship to play volleyball for the same school Clayton attended, Alabama.

Things began to look even better for the Fosters in early May.

Clayton cheered for his daughter, a standout in four track and field events at Mission Viejo, as she won the South Coast League championship in the discus, triple jump and shotput.

“Clayton had been out of work since October,” said Fred Almond, Mission Viejo girls’ track and field coach. “But he finally got a job in San Pedro, only about 10 days before it happened.”

According to Wilson, Clayton Foster suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and extensive brain damage. He is in a coma and on kidney dialysis in the intensive care unit.

“He is in grave condition, but that doesn’t mean he can’t recover,” Foster said. “Sometimes he will move his head toward the person who is talking to him. He just does little things every day.”

No one would have blamed Nina Foster if she had dropped everything to be with her father. She still visits him every day, but she has continued with her life.

“Nina is the kind of young lady who doesn’t look back, she just looks forward,” Almond said. “She has to take care of her father and she knows that. But she knows he wants her to go to Alabama and establish a foundation for her own life.”

In addition to her father’s health, there are other concerns.

“I don’t know if Nina will inherit her father’s financial debts once she turns 18 in July,” Wilson said. “There are a lot of people who could make that unpleasant for her.

“We’ve also discussed what she wants to do with all of her father’s belongings, where he will be buried, those kinds of things. If he is in a coma indefinitely, Nina wants him sent to Alabama where his two brothers and one sister live.”

Heady issues for a 17-year-old trying to graduate from high school.

Said Foster: “It’s obvious what my dad would want me to do. He would be so mad if I just quit on it, and he’d hate me if I stopped my life. You have to know him to understand how much he would have wanted me to go on.”

Clayton Foster first encouraged Nina to try out for volleyball when she was in eighth grade. Even then, Foster stood out from the crowd.

“I showed up for club tryouts wearing red elbow pads and knee pads,” Foster said. “Of course, volleyball players don’t wear elbow pads. I was so embarrassed.”

Foster struggled with the sport, playing in only one game as a sophomore with the Mission Viejo junior varsity. But she has stayed with it and blossomed before her junior year.

Foster credits the improvement to her involvement in club volleyball, where she first met Saylor. The pair have played together for the Mission Valley club team for four years.

“I don’t even remember the first time I met her,” Saylor said. “We’re both really goofy, so we get along.”

They got along so well that it was natural for Foster to move in with Saylor and her family when Clayton was hospitalized after each stroke.

Saylor knows that she and her family can only lend their support to Foster.

“You know how some people who aren’t that close to you can be overly sentimental? Well, I try to remain normal to Nina,” Saylor said. “I stay strong for her, but I don’t try to give her any answers because I don’t know what she is going through.

“I’ve told her how I would feel if something happened to my mom . . . Nina’s been so strong; stronger than I would’ve been.”

For the first time in four years, Foster will be without Saylor next season.

Each player earned a volleyball scholarship, but they will attend different schools--Saylor is going to Colorado State.

Both players finished their high-school careers with stunning performances in the Orange County all-star match at Golden West College June 3.

With Saylor setting, Foster had 15 kills to earn MVP honors and lead the South to a three-game victory over the North.

The all-star match was just like a normal practice for Foster because many of her Mission Valley Blue club teammates were selected to the South squad.

Jeanne Vetter of Dana Hills, Hilary Kyle of Laguna Beach and Leigh Readey of Irvine also joined Saylor and Foster on the all-star team.

And on that night, Foster was the best of the best.

“If Nina would’ve played like that against us, we wouldn’t have beaten them twice this season,” said South Coach Mike Hurlbut of Dana Hills, the South Coast League champion.

Although Foster and Saylor couldn’t help Mission Viejo advance to the playoffs, they hope to lead Mission Valley Blue to national prominence.

According to Coach Mark Mednick, who also coaches at Irvine High, Mission Valley Blue is ranked No. 1 in the nation in the 18-and-under division.

Mission Valley Blue is playing in the Orange County Invitational junior volleyball tournament this weekend, in its last tuneup for the season finale, the Volleyball Festival at UC Davis, June 27-July 1. Mission Valley Blue lost in the 18-and-under final last year.

“This team is determined to get back to the final and win it,” Mednick said. “It’s an extremely talented group and we’re strong at every position.”

Some of the entry fees from the Orange County Invitational will go to a trust fund for Foster, said Charlie Brande, a longtime area coach who is sponsoring the tournament. Others in the volleyball community are also contributing on Foster’s behalf.

According to Brande, the Southern California region of the U.S. Volleyball Assn. is accepting donations for the trust fund. Brande and Dale Flickinger also sponsored another tournament this weekend. Brande hopes the 40-team field from that tournament will generate $4,000 for Foster’s trust fund.

Said Almond: “Marge started the trust fund to help Nina with basics like feeding and clothing herself, expenses for college. Mission Viejo High is taking contributions and we’re trying to help in any way we can. I’m just happy I could contribute in some way, but what I’ve done pales in comparison to Marge. She’s been a guiding light for Nina.”

Said Wilson: “Nina told me she’s coming back for Christmas and the holidays. It’s like having another kid but not planning on it, and that suits me fine.”