Sarah Yampanya - 11
10/15/2018
Known for his love of sports like track and soccer, Kirksville High School senior Seger Nelson got hit with an athlete’s worst nightmare on May 27th, 2017-- getting injured.
Before his injury, Seger had just broken the school’s pole vault record on his first attempt at the 2017 MSHSAA Track and Field Championships and was headed for his own personal record on his second attempt when he fractured his pelvis.
Seger was forced to take a year off from track to focus on fully recovering. In an interview, Seger stated, “I had actually been doing rehab all last year and the bone just wouldn’t connect back to the pelvis. I had been going down two, three times a week trying to get X-rays, physical therapy… and everything seemed to be going well”
This past summer, Seger could finally do other things like biking, but stated that he still could not be active the way he wanted to be. But when Seger finally got to his final X-ray and CT scan it came back as bad news. It came back as a fibrous nonunion, which means a bone that will not grow together. Fixing that would require surgery.
His surgery happened on July 27 of this year. The recovery process is ongoing and will take over a year.
According to Seger, one of the hardest things about recovery is not being to do day-to-day things, but he acknowledges the positive changes this experience has brought to his life. He stated, “I think this injury is something to look past and was meant to happen to me… I was at this stage sophomore year where I thought everything was coming together, but sometimes an injury can lead to other things that end up being better.”
He remarked, “During this time off, I picked up some different hobbies that I should have picked up while I was vaulting. Sophomore year my mind was all on vaulting and I didn’t realize how much it had taken away from me, like going out with friends, finding something that was other than sports, and even growing closer to Christ religiously… It has really taught me how to be more perseverant and try to grow into a more well-rounded person both academically and athletically.”
Despite being unable to pole vault, Seger picked up more activities that he never thought he would fall in love with, such as mountain biking, gymnastics, hunting and studying agriculture.
When asked what helped him the most during recovery, Seger said, “My parents are the most supportive people I’ve ever had in my life, and also friends and one specifically: Ethan Gooch. He would always be the person I would be able to fall back on when I was discouraged or anything even last track season when I couldn’t participate, he would make me feel more included.”
For Seger’s words of wisdom, he stated, “Focus on what’s important in the long term… Find something you are interested in that is not your sport or something like that, something that can keep you occupied, and find people that can help you out in every way to support you through it.”
When Seger fully recovers, he plans on going to college and would like to keep doing the extracurriculars that he picked up.