helplessness and weakness, I used them to propel my motivation to fully recover and return to sports. “I couldn’t be more excited and more terrified for tomorrow.” Directly after my injury, I saw multiple doctors who denoted that I did not need surgery and there was “nothing wrong” but I insisted booking imaging to confirm and began physio a week later to error on the side of caution. My physiotherapist said there was a possible tear and we began rehabilitation and strengthening right away. Five months after my injury, the MRI confirmed an ACL tear, a damaged meniscus, and a large bone bruise from the impact. Receiving this news hit me hard because I was so hopeful up until this point. An injury is one of the things no one can ever be prepared to handle. We all hear about severe, career-ending injuries but no athlete ever expects their own body to give out. I was fitted for a custom ACL brace and returned to hockey until I had surgery on March 3rd, 2016. Throughout this process, I kept blogs primarily to update my friends and family and to reach out to athletes going through ACL reconstructive surgery because there is no reason to go through this alone. After publishing a few blogs, I realized that there was something therapeutic about sharing my story and receiving motivation and encouragement from loved ones, and even strangers. The day before my surgery I wrote, “I couldn’t be more excited and more terrified for tomorrow.” It was my first surgery, there were so many unknowns, and to describe the feeling as “overwhelmed” would be an understate- ment. I am extremely thankful for the many strangers, and now friends, on Twitter who were really helpful and inspir- ing throughout this entire process. The day of surgery, I was calm and collected knowing that my worrying had absolutely no effect on the outcome. The surgery took around 45 minutes; My surgeon took a piece of my hamstring and put it in my knee as an ACL, stitched my meniscus, and removed 20% of my cartilage. “It is tough to get back the fearless mentality I once had but I am optimistic” The initial recoverywasmainly takingmedication to control the pain, rest, compression, elevation, and constantly icing with my ice machine. I was completely dependent on my family to do everything from helping me get into the shower, preparing my food, and driving me anywhere
By Ceiledh Monk M y name is Ceiledh Monk and I am a varsity athlete at Charles. P Allen High School. In grade ten, I was on the starting line of the girls rugby team and had fallen completely in love with the sport. In the semi-final game, on May 26th, 2015, while in a tackle, my feet remained planted, my knees went right, but my body went left. I knew something was wrong when I stood up and noticed major instability in my left knee. The feeling of my knee collapsing with every step has stuck with me ever since my injury. I remember the morning after my injury, no one was avail- able to help me so I had to get ready on my own and take the bus to school. With a big cast on my leg, I was quickly frustrated and I started crying when I was struggling to put my socks on. Reflecting back on every moment of
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APRIL 2017 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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