Throughout my entire life, I have felt invincible. I have always been that lucky kid; the one who fell out of trees and off the bleachers, walking away with just a minor cut or bruise. But at some point or another, even the invincible ones get knocked down.
For me, it was a friendly game of football with my friends. I went up for an interception and came down hard. While getting hit in football is nothing new for me—I have played through a lot of pain—this time was different. My knee was hurting me, worse than ever before. Little did I know at that moment, that I tore my ACL.
The ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) is a ligament in the knee essential for full movement. If torn, surgery is required. So when my doctor told me that the pain I was feeling was from a torn ACL, I didn’t believe him. In fact, it took me a month before I finally got an MRI to see what was wrong with my knee.
I was just getting ready for my first winter track meet and during practice I couldn’t run without fully collapsing. Just like that, my entire season was over. I was upset, angry and depressed to find out that I needed surgery if I ever wanted to play sports again.
Sports are a huge part of my life. I run track for POB JFK High School and play pick up football games on the regular. Getting this surgery means that I will be on crutches, have a cast restricting movement in my left knee for a month, need hours of physical therapy and begin a recovery process spanning around eight months.
Fortunately, the doctor who will be performing my surgery on Jan. 29 is Dr. Answorth Allen, the man who fixed current Cleveland Cavaliers player Iman Shumpert’s ACL and is the team doctor for the New York Knicks. He told me that athletes tearing their ACL is extremely common and happens all the time, which came as a shock to me. I did my research and realized that he, of course, was right. So many athletes tear their ACL, especially those who play basketball and football. But what does it mean for the athlete’s future?
Many people think that athletes are never the same after an injury—especially in the case of a torn ACL— and that they will never play sports at a competitive level again. But it does happen. Just look at Tom Brady of the New England Patriots. Brady tore his ACL in 2008, missed all of that year, and ever since returning for the 2009 season, has been arguably one of the best quarterbacks.
While I don’t expect to come back from my injury and be Tom Brady, knowing that I haven’t played my final pick up football game or ran my last meet ever is very comforting. In about eight months time, I know that I will be somewhere playing sports better than ever before.
—Erik Simon is a senior at Plainview-Old Bethpage High School and aspires to become a sports writer or broadcaster.
