October 13th, 2016, the day that shaped who I am the most so far. My parents split up before I was born so I visit my dad every other weekend. I hate going back and forth from house to home. This just gave me one more reason to hate it. The hassel, the chores from both houses, and the lack and overload of pitty at each house. It was a dread before, now it’s torture.

It was a perfect Fall day and I was spending it at my dads. The leaves had already decided to blanket my backyard. Which is followed by everybody's “favorite” fall chore. Raking. Our backyard is two acres and there wasn’t a spot in the yard without leaves on it; Subsequently, this was an all day job.

It was about an hour or two from sunset and we had just finished. There is a pretty strong rule I like to live by and that is; work hard, play hard. We had raked the leaves into the ditch before the road to burn them, but before we burt them I had a “brilliant” idea to jump off the top of the ditch and into the pile. I came up with the great idea so why not go first, right? That's exactly what I did... and I wish I hadn’t.

I pencil dove into the pile and landed on my left leg and as soon as I did, my leg felt as if  it was on fire. I lost my breath and got extremely light headed. I layed in the pile trying to catch my breath and get up but I couldn't. I couldn’t walk and I could barely put a sentence together to tell my brothers to get my dad. I’m sure they saw the look on my face and knew what to do because I looked up to tell them and they were already gone to get him. They came back with my dad on the golf-cart to cart me back to the house like an injured football player. Once we got up to the house I pulled up my pant leg and my ankle had swelled to the size of a tomato. I was in awe. I have never actually been injured to the point where something swelled. My dad came out of the house with a bag of frozen peas, the perfect thing to ice an injury with. When he saw my leg, he almost let some fear slip out. Instead, he placed the peas on my swollen ankle with a poker face, knowing that his fear will only make me worry more.

“Can you walk?” he said helping me stand. He knew I shouldn’t, he had to play along though.

“I don’t think so” were only words I could get out while fighting back tears.

He helped me to the couch, put a pillow under my foot to elevate it, and the peas to ice it. It would have been the perfect set up… if I that's how I wanted to spend my weekend, and with basketball tryouts coming up the next day I should be outside practicing. But I’m not, I am stuck in the house, on the couch, babying my tomato leg.

I arrived at my mom’s house around dinner time. I went inside while my dad explained to my mom the shpiel about my leg and he left. There I was again, in the house, on the couch , babying my tomato leg, wasting my time. On the bright side, I was able to catch up on the newest episodes of The Flash!

Sleep wasn't an option, I woke up every hour in pain wishing I could just cut my leg off. I couldn’t stay laying down, my leg would throb and ache and all I could do was grit my teeth and fight my tears. I tried every pain killer and swelling reliever we had and nothing worked.

With school the next day and with the lack of sleep the night before, I knew this would be the hardest Monday of my life. Getting ready in the morning was not how I wanted to start my day, I had to limp around the house and it took me ten extra minutes to do anything. I had to try not to limp because I didn't want it to seem like I was trying to get attention, which was the last thing I wanted. During gym, I just sat in a chair, watched my classmates have fun, bored out of my mind, babying my tomato leg. I hated every minute of being at school. The boredom was unbearable and the pain was even worse. When I walked up the stairs, I was fighting tears. Although the school day came to an end, the pain didn’t. I still had basketball tryouts after school which was a silly idea.  

I spent the shoot around time trying to run without limping or wincing at the pain. Once the drills started, my ankle seemed fine to walk and jog on. Once the 3v2 2v1 drill started it all came crashing down. I jogged down on offence, shot and scored… surprisingly, and had to run back for defence. I tripped at about half court and couldn't get up. It was deja vu. I couldn’t breathe and I was light headed. The trainer walked me off to the side and ran some test on my leg and recommended I get an X-ray. I spent the rest of tryouts doing what I was starting to get pretty good at. Nothing.

Nothing good came out of getting an X-ray, I got to sit in a bleach scented rom and get told that I can't play the one thing that made me who I am. Basketball. I got a temporary cast and a doctor's note to the school so I get to ride the elevator. Yay!

I eventually had to wear a boot and I was stuck on crutches. It was a huge change that  would shift the way I lived for four months.

I spent Thanksgiving at my dad's and all the guys watched football in the basement. Due to the lack of sympathy at my dads, I spent my Thanksgiving crutching up and down the stairs, serving the men snacks while they watched football.

My winter break was spent on the couch or in bed because I wasn’t allowed to play outside. It was a long break which was good, but it was full of pure boredom.

Finally, February brought exciting news! I found out I still had to wear my boot but, got to walk around without those armpit-pinching crutches. Until the last week of February, I finally could walk normal… Kinda. I didn’t really remember how to walk because I hadn’t done it in four months but I picked it up in a couple of minutes. My left leg was like jello; there wasn’t any muscle on my leg. I had a little limp because of it but I started doing workouts to try and regain strength.

To this day, my leg still isn’t all there, I have problems with it here and there, and I am still working to try and make my left leg as strong as my right. I am just grateful I am able to walk!