I played volleyball in college at Mount Vernon Nazarene University (College when I was there). Initially, when I was looking for a college, I knew I wanted to play volleyball if I could. It had been life up until that point. I spent my summers at all kinds of sports camps but when it came to volleyball, there was a passion there that could make you cry. I felt it in my soul. I felt it in my heart. When I told Coach Swanson I wanted to play in college and he extended an invitation to play for HIM… it was all over. I knew where I wanted to go.

There’s a guy I want you to meet. Coach Swanson. Let me preface this with I’ve known this guy forever.  I mean, he has been coaching volleyball camps at my high school for years. I remember when his youngest son was born who is now married. I don’t remember the first time I met him, I just know he has always made me feel special and like I could do anything. If you don’t already know him, you should meet him. He will leave you laughing and always in good spirits. I can’t even think of the word for what an awesome person he is. He makes everyone feel like they’re his favorite but I can’t help but think maybe I’m one of his very favorites for real.

Enough of that sappiness. Here’s the story you came here for.

One day I was warming up before a big game at Walsh University. It was a normal game day. I threw the ball up, hit it, and POP, something happened in my dominant hand and I yelped and grabbed my hand. I told Coach about it and he did some quick tests but it was still strong and I could still play. Play I did. For 2.5 years I played on it while we tried (doctors looked, I endured) to figure out what happened. Doctors gave me cortisone shot after cortisone shot so I could play on it because nobody could tell me what was wrong. As it turned out, they found a torn ligament and a dislocated bone in my thumb. I had a couple of surgeries to fix that. It didn’t matter. I still had pain. A LOT of pain. Throughout the years I had a few surgeries to clean up scar tissue. The last surgery I had (#6) they actually repaired the area that I’ve always thought the initial injury was in! I’m not going to lie to you. It was mental and physical torture. I had to do this torture device that forced my wrist to twist for 3 hours every night for 6 months-ish (for real, look at the picture!). It’s all I did in the evenings so basically I lost all muscle tone and any metabolism I had going for me. Did I mention my confidence? That all went out the window with that horrible brace. All of those wrist surgeries wore my wrist down and now it’s just not strong enough to play anything. The doctor says I’ll probably never do a push-up again so now I need to lose a bunch of weight so I can get into a shape that I can try. Nobody tells me I can’t do anything! I try and try and try… usually until I either succeed or until I hurt myself.