Living with Injuries
Every school year, we have a few students who receive injuries while playing their respective sport or those who are injured in their everyday lives. This year seems to encompass a large number of 'those living with injuries'.
Linnie Lee
Linnie Lee is a senior who was hurt while on a hunting trip a few years ago. She was climbing down from the deer stand, it was raining and she slipped and fell. She experienced nerve damage and was paralyzed from the knee down. "I really thought I was about to die at that moment. My leg was numb so there wasn't pain at that time but I knew something was terribly wrong," Linnie says.
She had to get special braces in order to stand walk and the road to recovery was extensive. "I was scared to hunt again but now, I make sure to carefully use both hands while climbing. My words of advice? Never give up because even a little bit of recovery is worth it."- Linnie
Elijah Jarvis
Elijah Jarvis is an 11th grader and suffered a severe injury while playing baseball, a broken leg. He immediately thought, “Well, my season is over.”
At the time of the injury, he didn’t notice any pain and tried to stand up. Of course, his injury required a lengthy rehab time--3 months.
Elijah states, “I still feel it now, 8 months after the injury-especially when it gets cold or rains.”
His thoughts for others. “This injury made me want it more (sports),honestly.”
He advises others to give your injury time to grind it out.
Takyla Pitts
Takyla Pitts is another LE student who has suffered an injury. Takyla is an 11th grader who is involved with volleyball. Her injury was a sprained ankle.
“This was the worst injury I’ve ever had,” stated Takyla. “ I was crying and everybody was just staring.”
“I needed help immediately.” she stated.
Rehab and recovery was listed as 3 months, but Taklyla stated that she did not want to give up on sports.
Her advice to others is, “be careful when blocking a ball.”
Chloe Ward
Chloe Ward is another one of our LE students who has suffered an injury.
Chloe is a junior who has been a member of the LE volleball team and in track. Her injury occurred while she was in track.
“I was doing the high jump last track season and I landed on my heel wrong,” stated Chloe.
Chloe said she knew that she “needed immediate help.” Her thoughts were, “Oh my god, I don’t want to have surgery.”
Her injury involved fluid in her knee. While she made it to the area meet, she was not able to jump.
Chloe stated that she still did not want to give up on sports,"it motivated me more.”
She is not sure how much time it will take to fully recover because she is “trying to let it heal without surgery.”
Chloe advises others to "put your body before sports and make sure you heal before doing sports and other activities."
Hagan Power
Hagen Power is a senior who suffered an injury during the football season, injuring his shoulder. This was an injury that was going to take a bit of time to heal and this concerned Hagen when he was told it would take 2 weeks for his shoulder to recover.
“I thought my season was over,” stated Hagen. Recovery was fairly short with the pain “ tolerable."
Hagan did not want to give up on sports after his injury, but would advise others to: “take time to heal.”
Dequane Prevo
Dequane Prevo is a sophomore who joins the ranks of those living with an injury on our campus.
Dequane excels in many areas yet football seems to be his strongest area. He injured his knee during this season and had a few weeks of recovery time.
"I got treatment everyday and I couldn't walk on it much but I pushed through. I was determined to get better so I could get back on the field with my team."- Prevo
Avion Golston
Junior Avion Golston experienced his injury while playing football this season. The AC separated in his shoulder and the pain was pretty much tolerable. He was out of commission for 4-5 weeks and he wondered if his injury was minor or really bad.
"Advice for others? Make sure you stretch as much as possible and never give up."- Avion
Rashad Ganter
Rashad Ganter is a senior who participates in both football and powerlifting. He hurt his shoulder and it took a couple of weeks to recover. "The pain was not unbearable so I was hoping there would be no downtime. I wanted to get back to my competition."-Rashad
Landrea Williams
Landrea Williams is a senior who hurt her pinky finger playing softball last year. "I had no choice but to push through the pain and challenges that came with being injured but it did take me out for the season. My motto: Never give up."- Landrea
Shamar Pickett
Shamar Pickett is a senior who broke his hand and tore his meniscus while playing football.
"I was told the hand would take about 3-4 weeks recovery time but the meniscus will never heal. I kept wondering how long it would take me to get over this injury yet I didn't let it affect any other area of my life. I've been taught to keep going when you face obstacles and that's what I did."- Shamar
Ja'shun Weatherall
Ja'shun Weatherall is a junior who plays football, basketball and runs track. "I hurt my neck while in a football game this year and I wondered if I was every going to play again. I could possibly give up football but basketball is a sport that I just can't imagine me not playing.
Advice? Be careful what you do while in sports. Play right if you are going to participate."-Ja'shun
Lakyn Johnson
Lakyn Johnson is a junior who hurt her ankle while playing volleyball this year. She's not fully recovered but she still plays on it. "I was disappointed and thought I may not be able to continue playing any sport.
It was discouraging but my teammates help me out whenever necessary. I love playing basketball as well so I needed for my injury to heal in order to continue do what I love."- Lakyn
Brooklyn Pipes
Brooklyn Pipes is a senior who was one of our few football trainers this season and she also has played tennis for many years. While at one of this year's competitions, she tore two ligaments and a tendon. She got help immediately and realized she would have a long road to recovery. She was on crutches for a while and then graduated to a walking boot.
"This was by far the worse injury I ever experienced. It affected most every area of my life but mostly in relation to walking. You don't realize how much you miss the normal activities of life until you get hurt. Take physical therapy seriously and be careful when using crutches." -Brooklyn
Cameron Hadaway
Cameron Hadaway is a senior who broke his toe while playing football this season. "Took me 4 1/2 weeks to fully recover and I questioned if I would be 100% again. I couldn't walk on it for a while and that was probably the most challenging aspect of this whole injury. I've never really been down for that long. I never wanted to give up on sports because it's too important to me.
My advice? If love the sport, push through the pain."- Cameron
Tyce Pollan
Tyce Pollan is a senior who participates in football, soccer and powerlifting. He tore his ACL which took 9 months of recovery time.
When it actually happened, I thought my leg just popped but obviously it was way worse. The pain was tolerable and manageable but I did get discouraged at times. My advice to others? Don't tear your ACL."- Tyce
Britain Pipes
Britain Pipes is a junior who tore a ligament in his thumb while playing football. It was dislocated and obviously required surgery and was down for about three months. "The pain was fairly tolerable until I tried to pick something up, then it would hurt. My arm strength has been affected but I hope with time and therapy, I will be back to normal. My advice to others? Take recovery very seriously because it does make a difference."- Britain
J'Shun Beed
J'Shun Beed is a sophomore who plays football, basketball and baseball. "I hyperextended my knee and sprained my ankle recently. It wasn't a horrible injury like a few other students have experienced and it only took about a month to recover. The pain was wasn't that bad, although it was difficult to run with that leg. I had a lot of thoughts going through my mind like- why did I get hurt? I can't stop if I want to play this sport. I kept going and thankfully the injury healed for the most part. I still have some pain at times but I hear that's fairly normal."- J'Shun
Wade Kelly
Wade Kelly is a senior who has lived with an injury for a few years now- almost 10 years to be exact. He was playing football and snapped his femur. it was a clean break with no visible signs that the bone broke the skin.
"I knew immediately that this injury was not like anything I had experienced before-the pain was horrible," Kelly said.
Wade's surgery was 8 hours long at Children's Hospital in L.A. Little Rock.
"Recovery was long, not to brag, but I was determined not to let it get the best of me," Kelly said, "giving up was not an option."
Wade says he still has pain on certain days and probably always will, but he now can talk about his injury in hopes of encouraging other people who have struggled with pain from an injury.
Bella Roach
Bella Roach is a senior who is involved in various activities here at school- she's always doing something. She has a part-time job at Dixie Diner, she house and dog/pet sits for people, has a side photography business (she's really talented by the way!) and at one time, was a member of All Rhythm Dance Academy.
Her life changed one afternoon while at dance class. Bella turned a certain way and felt a horrible pain in her knee and immediately realized that something wasn't quite right. She pushed through and figured it would get better. She tripped again while in PE class at school and then decided to get it x-rayed/MRI. Turns out, she shredded her ACL, MCL was torn and she lost 25% of cartilage meniscus in addition to three bone bruises. It took her almost 9 months to recover and eventually had to quit dancing.
But there's more to Bella's story! The day she was cleared with her knee, she retina detached from a bicycle incident. "It was a very challenging season in my life to say the least, but with the help from my parents, I was able to persevere. I'm a pretty driven peson so it wasn't as difficult for me to recover. I am thankful it's all behind me though."- Bella
Brittany Clark
Another one of our students who have suffered a severe injury is 10th grader, Brittany Clark. Brittany was playing volleyball at her previous school and injured her ankle called 'Os trigonum syndrome, extra bone in the ankle breaks away or is irritated.'
“I was in a boot for 7 months, but before that, I was in a brace for 3 weeks.” stated Brittany. “It still hurts from time to time.” She still has to wear her “ air-up” fracture boot when it starts aching and swelling. “I needed immediate help when I was first injured and left the second game because of my injury.”
This injury really affected her in several ways. “It was going through my mind that I wanted to play volleyball, and I wanted to dance in the spring show.”
She found that she, “wasn’t able to walk the same or do the same things, and …lost 10 degrees of range in my ankle.”
Brittany kept on. “I didn’t want to give up but I was sort of forced to. I did go to drill camp and learned the dances even though I was in my boot.”
Her advice to others, “the pain is temporary and just don’t give up even if it hurts.”
