I have always played sports. I never really knew why I played, I just knew that was what I liked. After my 2nd knee surgery I was playing basketball again. After my second surgery, I wasn’t supposed to have any knee pain but that wasn’t the case. I didn’t tell anyone because I didn’t want to have to sit out again.

Eventually the pain got so bad that I had to tell my mom about it. We went to the doctor. I was told I would have to have another surgery. I was furious. The first doctor had said I would be good, and now I was being told differently.

I was really scared to have the surgery. It didn’t go as planned because when the surgeon got into my knee, my knee cap was broken. When I came out of surgery, my mom had to explain to me that they had had to take a bone graft from my shin. I was really mad because that meant I would have to be even more careful with my knee from now on. The four month recovery was long, but after I was able to finally play with my softball team for their last tournament. When I was playing I was so happy, even with some knee pain. Again I didn’t tell anyone because I had missed playing so much.

When we went back for my six month check in the doctor thought he saw something on the x-ray. He wanted to make sure so that night I had to have an emergency MRI. The next day I went back to see what they saw on it. I wasn’t expecting much. I didn't realize that the pain I was having was a really bad thing and it would cause me to have two more surgeries. Me and my parents decided to go to a more well known surgeon that was in Chicago. I had my next  surgery in December of 2021, and that was when he fixed my meniscus. I went back 3 months later to have my big final surgery. The surgery couldn’t have gone better! Three days later I couldn’t walk but I didn’t have any knee pain. I couldn’t believe it. Once I could walk I would go to physical therapy to build strength. Even though I couldn’t run yet I didn’t have any pain. I was so excited to play basketball again with my team. I made countdowns everywhere, one on my phone, one in my room, I even knew the exact days until my appointment.

The day came. We drove down to Chicago and I was so nervous. When we were waiting in the room I couldn’t stop thinking about how if it went well I was going to go to basketball practice that night and tell my whole team and coach that I was able to play.

When my doctor came in he said, “Your x-rays look good. You can start impact right away.”

“What?” I was in shock “So I’m just good? I can start playing right away?”

“Yes, there will be some muscle soreness but overall the surgery worked and you have a beautiful knee now,” he announced.

I actually couldn’t believe it. After a long two years of disappointment and recovery I was finally able to do the one thing that I loved. Looking back I now know why I play sports: it's not just because that’s what I do. I play because I love it. I love everything about sports: winning, losing, being a part of a team. I think that even though I wished I never got hurt, it happened for a reason and now I appreciate it more. I now know that I should never take things for granted because you never know what is going to happen and how that will affect for the better or the worse.

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