Osteochondral Disease: A Personal Narrative Of My Life

Sports has always been a huge part of my life. I would be the one team player who took the sports season a little bit too seriously. I was the number 1 doubles player on my school's JV tennis team. Unfortunately, I fractured my ankle during my junior year and wasn't able to play with my team. I was devastated, but I didn’t allow myself to become disconnected from my team. I became the team manager to allow myself to still play a role in my team, despite my injury. I would record scores to my division leaders and take pictures to post on the website I created for my team. After the season was over, my doctor told me my ankles required surgery to become fully healed. I knew that meant I couldn’t continue to play tennis, but I didn’t want to give

September 13, 2014, it was my fourth official varsity soccer game as a freshman and I was starting. I was put on outside wing, defending one of the strongest seniors Horseheads High School had and I was nothing but confident and motivated. All of the sudden I hear a few pops and a crack and I was on the ground and was unable to move my right leg. Complete shock filled my body and I did not know how to react; my older sister and my coach flashed in front of my eyes and I could not comprehend what was happening. Later that week I was told I had torn my ACL and I would be out of soccer for approximately six months.

9th grade I fractured my lateral condyle of the femoral head, leaving me with 2 months of physical therapy. At first I hated it never wanting to go, saying my trainer was too young to even know what he was doing. However, when my trainer, Adam, started to make it a game with me on how fast I can progress my competitive side came to play and i couldn't help but want to take him up on his offer. As the weeks passed by I started loving the atmosphere watching patients work towards

My freshman year of high school I broke the Scaphoid and growth plate in my right wrist while playing in a basketball game. I didn’t know that it was broken for two weeks and I played in three of four basketball games with my broken dominant hand. I found that is was probably broken the Monday before Christmas. On Christmas Eve I was told that I would be put in a cast for the entire Christmas break and on January 3rd we would find out if it was really broke. Sure enough we came back and told that I would have to be in a cast for six to eight weeks. I was pretty devastated and upset that I would be out for the rest of the season, it had barely begun. I was staying pretty optimistic about it because it would give me a chance to work on my weak hand, it was my left, and make it stronger. I still went to practice and worked as hard as I could hoping that the coach’s

Hearing the pop of my knee was the last sound I wanted to hear while kicking a soccer ball during tryouts junior year. I fell straight to the ground, and knew instantly something was terribly wrong. To this day, I recall how heartbroken I was when I heard the news that I tore my ACL, and I never thought it could happen to me. Just the thought of not playing sports that year was emotionally difficult because sports have always been a part of my life. I could not imagine a year without participating in athletics, however at the time I did not know it could have a positive impact on me.

Growing up, both my brother and I were very involved in athletics; from baseball/softball to basketball to football to track and volleyball. A competitive spirit was instilled in my life at a early age. As I got older, I focused mainly on softball; competing around the country in hopes of gaining a college scholarship. Sadly, the summer before my junior year I tore my rotator cuff and labrum in my shoulder and messed up multiple muscles throughout my arm and back. Therefore, my softball career came to an end.

Two years ago, one single moment ended my volleyball career. We were playing Bismarck High School and it was an intense game; We were in the lead 25-24 and only needed one point to officially win against Bismarck for the first time in about 6 years. The serve was up and I was too far back on the court. I had to fall to the ground and “pancake” the floor! I heard a crack in my knee when I stood back up and an unexpected pain came shooting up my

My defining moment came very recently. In the spring of my Junior year, I decided to join the school tennis team. I had never played tennis before, but I am always willing to learn new skills, and I wanted to prepare physically for the upcoming golf season. Less than two months into the tennis season, I was playing in a doubles match when I cut to my right and my knee jerked outward, sending me to the ground. I was hopeful my knee had just dislocated, but later discovered major knee surgery was required to ultimately reconstruct my kneecap, tendons, and even realign my tibia.

It all started freshman year when I was playing football. It was the worst day of my sports career that I have ever experienced in my life. It was the first play in my high school football career and it was a punt. I ran down the field and made the tackle. As I was making the tackle someone hit my elbow and they broke it. I went to the hospital and they put me in a cast for four weeks. After the four weeks were over the doctor took my cast off and said everything was fine. The rest of the year it felt good. Then the next

One important thing in my life is when I tore my ACL the first time in eighth grade basketball. It was November 15, 2015, when I first tore my ACL. I was at basketball practice and we were doing a rebounding drill. I jumped up to rebound the ball, because I can hardly jump I landed before most of the other players and Charlie, one of my teammates, came down on my knee. I heard my knee pop. My knee caved in and I fell, feeling excruciating pain as I fell to the ground I just saw the ground moving closer and closer. As I fell to the ground I felt my body hit the hard gym floor. All that went through my head was ”That hurt really bad!!!!” I was really sweaty, I could smell the sweat from the bodies, and I was tired from previous things we had done in practice but I just sat there screaming and balling. I started screaming and balling because my knee hurt so badly. I could taste the saliva from my mouth while I was lying there balling. One of the other players went into the locker room and grabbed my phone, I called my dad but he couldn’t make out anything I was saying because I was still crying. My coach, Ms. Bolton, carried me to the bench while my dad was on his way. My dad carried me out to the truck then inside to the couch when we got home. Brock, my brother, went and picked up some crutches for me. I ended up going to the doctor about a week later and then on January 4, 2016, I had my first surgery. Coming out of surgery and waking up in recovery was the worst pain I’ve EVER felt. I came out of recovery and was screaming in pain because they didn’t keep track of when I had last had morphine so I wasn’t on track and I felt my whole leg right after surgery. Tearing my ACL was important because it made me who I am today and made me stronger by

Ever since I can remember, I have been playing sports. I played a sport each season and excelled in each sport I played, most likely due to a high level of coordination at a young age. Playing hockey and squash in the winter before middle school, soccer and football in the fall, and the best season of all due to the range of such high level sports, spring, in which I played baseball, lacrosse, and tennis. I knew that I had the most skill in baseball, tennis, and hockey. One day, the day of a little league baseball game, I was sick and been throwing up the night before, my coach told me I did not have to play. The decision was in

In my freshman year of high school I made the freshman baseball team, a couple weeks into the season I received news that I was being promoted to the JV team. I was so excited I was gonna be able to play at the next level. That night I played in my last game on the freshman team and I broke my thumb after a bad hop. I was devastated when the doctor gave me the news that I’d be out for the season and in a cast for the next month. Soon after my coaches heard the news, I was sent back to the freshman team. After playing out all the hypothetical ways approaching the next few months could have gone for me I decided right then I was going to go to every practice and game to help my team even though I physically wasn't able to. At the team banquet

It all started two summers ago when my softball team and I were playing in the championship game. I had already pitched four games that day and my body was aching. My knee caps had been popping in and out of place that day and they were being held in place by medical tape. I started to throw another pitch and then I felt it. My knees collapsed and I fell to the ground in excruciating pain. I knew at that moment that my career as an athlete was over.

I was excited for a new beginning in my career, maybe to prepare me for high school in the upcoming years. The idea of beating boys in soccer got me excited, my blood pumping harder through my veins and put an extra spring in my step. It was the first practice of our middle school season, where my life would be turned upside down. I ran down the field as normal, going for another shot on goal, but out of nowhere one of boys came from behind and completely took out my knee, causing me to collapse in pain. Lying down on the field, my sanctuary, the place I saw as home was probably the most grueling time of my life. Injuries were common in my life, but this injury was unlike any other. I could not get up off the field and felt as if there was nothing left in my knee, and every time I tried to get up, I fell right back down. I never sat out a practice until that night and figured one day would be enough. One night was clearly not enough, I was never able to catch back up to my full speed, or be able to cut around the field, which resulted in moving positions from forward, to defense to cut back on the running. I thought this would a temporary position, but I played every game in

As I sat there and let the doctor examine my knee and diagnosis me with a “left knee sprain”. I started to cry. I already knew the outcome that I had a torn ACL (anterior cruciate ligament). I tried to continue to play on it until one time I was playing in a tournament, and I went up to block a girls shot and landed on my