During the fall season, many athletes were victim to injuries that hurt their respective teams, one of whom being Ashley Farris, a senior on the girls volleyball team who was sidelined during the conclusion of the season. It was the last day of volleyball practice before District action against Parkway West when Farris hurt herself.
“I sprained my heel, the top of my ankle and foot, partially tearing my Achilles,” Farris said.
The injury caused her to miss the last game of her volleyball career in a close game with Parkway West, in which the team lost 23-25 in the first set and 24-26 in the second.
“We definitely had to adjust the lineup for our district game,” Farris said.
According to Farris, the rehab process has been very difficult. She was in a boot for three weeks, a cast for three more weeks, will be in a boot for another month and then will undergo six weeks of physical therapy to get her leg back to full strength.
Along with Farris, junior Katie Rembold had an injury that caused her to miss District volleyball, as well as missing games dating back to September when she was diagnosed with a fracture of the talus bone on the top of her foot.
Rembold has fought off pain in her foot since February, but never knew the root of the problem.
“I had gone to the doctor over the summer and they diagnosed the pain as a severe sprain, but I knew that was wrong,” Rembold said. “I’ve had some ankle sprains and knee pains in the past, but this pain is the worst.”
Despite the injury, Rembold cheered her team on throughout the season.
“I still went to every game, practice and tournament, so I was always around,” Rembold said. “I’m a pretty loud person too, so it’s hard to not notice me.”
Injuries in the Endzone
Not only was volleyball stricken with injuries, junior football players David Rook and Ethan Morse both suffered season-ending injuries this fall.
Since his sophomore football season, Rook has been dealing with shoulder pain, his shoulder being knocked out of place at least six times. The first time he injured his shoulder, Rook played through it and played the rest of the season until he went to the doctor after the game against Summit this year. He was then told the news of the severity of his injury.
“I tore the labrum in my right shoulder,” Rook said. “The biggest impact of my injury was probably not being at practice because a lot of guys aren’t willing to try as hard as I am.”
Rook’s injury caused him to miss important practices and games against Holt, Camdenton and Kirkwood. He also had to get surgery on his labrum, which is cartilage in the shoulder area. The surgery has forced Rook to wear a sling for four weeks, and after that he will go through a three-to-four month process of rehab.
“I have never had an injury that prevented me from playing before,” Rook said. “Being right-handed, the injury has made everything difficult after my surgery.”
Morse has had a long run of injuries ever since he entered high school. Serious knee injuries have derailed the safety’s football career.
“I don’t think it’s a curse, but it definitely feels like it,” Morse said. “I’m constantly hurt or something is wrong with my body.”
Morse’s long history of injuries started freshman year when he was hit in the knee in a game against Parkway North, tearing his anterior cruciate ligament. He had surgery to fix the problem, but experienced nagging pain during football practice his sophomore year and had to go to rehab again.
“While I was rehabbing, I tore my meniscus,” Morse said. “My second surgery, they put in a new ACL and fixed and sewed my meniscus.”
The second surgery did not save Morse from injuries because he tore his meniscus a second time spending time with his friends. Despite this setback, he came into junior year primed to get back to playing football, but like the past, his sports career was put on hold once again.
“This year, I tore my ACL again and had to have a bone graft, which is where they fill holes in my leg with fake bone, putting me on crutches for six weeks,” Morse said. “Then in December or January they are going to put my new ACL in.”
Morse said that it was difficult to navigate around the hallways on crutches because many students would bump into him on accident. He added that it became easier to get around after spending so much time injured. Morse estimates that he has spent three cumulative months on crutches around school.
Knee-ding Help
On the girls cross country team, sophomore Carsen Swallow went down with a nagging knee pain that she felt going into the season.
“The pain started during the end of summer with original knee pain, and during cross country season it began to hurt extremely badly and prevented me from running,” Swallow said.
As it turned out, Swallow tore the meniscus in her knee and was diagnosed with fatty pad syndrome, in which the fat around the kneecap becomes swollen due to broken blood vessels.
Swallow had to have surgery for her tear and was put in a cast when the swelling in her knee wasn’t getting better. Another surgery is not out of the question.
“I’m going back for an MRI soon, which will determine if I need another surgery,” Swallow said.
The knee injury Swallow sustained has made it hard to do things that teenagers usually do.
“The injury really prevents me from doing everything. On the weekends, I can’t do a whole lot of things because of the problems created by my knee,” Swallow said. “I am also put in great pain walking and can’t climb stairs. My injury affects me all day long, every day.”
Freaky Fractures
Debilitating injuries are not limited to students playing sports. Junior Jessica DeMunbrun became the victim of a painful ice cream scoop incident. While on the job at Smashburger, DeMunbrun’s boss scared her by making a barking sound. Unfortunately for DeMunbrun, she was scooping ice cream at the time.
“My wrist popped because the ice cream was really frozen,” DeMunbrun said. We called the doctor and confirmed that I sprained my wrist.”
Along with this most recent freak injury, DeMunbrun has had a long history of a wacky ways of getting injured. In seventh grade, DeMunbrun broke two bones in her right arm going down a water slide at the Chesterfield Pool when she hit a boy who was sitting at the bottom of the slide. In total, she has had nine total fractures in her lifetime, including a metal elbow because of being pushed off a bed when she was younger.
Suffering a similar fate, sophomore James Burns broke the scaphoid bone in his wrist playing ultimate Frisbee in P.E. class.
“My friend threw a Frisbee in a weird way, so I ran full speed to catch it, and as I was about to grab it, it took a weird angle and I slipped on the gym floor, causing me to land on my wrist,” Burns said.
Before the injury, Burns said he was envious of his older brother and the attention he was getting from all of his injuries. Ever since he broke his scaphoid, his opinion has changed.
“Now that I have an injury, it’s horrible,” Burns said. “Everyone makes fun of me now and asks if I want to play ultimate Frisbee.”