It was the last play of Jake’s freshman football season. I ran onto the field because I watched my kids play so many plays over so many years and knew immediately that this was different…and not good. Jake’s ankle got stuck in the turf, rolled up on, and a few minutes later the ambulance was on the field. I was devastated, he was crying in pain, and I remember looking up into the stands seeing my family and just feel a great sense of hopelessness and pain. I knew he wouldn’t be playing basketball this season but was more nervous based on the way his ankle looked that it might be a compound fracture and that there was the potential for nerve damage. My mind was racing and going a million different places and most of them were pretty dark.
We made our way to the ER and learned that it was a complex fracture. The onsite surgeon realigned his ankle, he had surgery the next day, and required 3 rods.
