- December 06, 2018 As a collegiate soccer player, I thought that tearing your ACL would be a death sentence. In my first conferenece game my Junior year that was sentenced upon me. I remember begging my athletic trainer to tell me that I hadn’t torn my ACL, and when I watched them test my knee I knew what had happened.
My freshman year I had broken my foot, so I knew what it was like to be injured, but I also knew that ACL recovery would be an entirely different battle. I was lucky in the fact that my mom is a physical therapist and was able to send me to Dr. Cole for surgery. With my mom’s knowledge in this field it was really comforting knowing that I was in good hands by someone that she trusted with her own daughter.
The first months of rehab were really brutal because I knew that everyday I would be pushing my pain limit to the maximum in order to get my range of motion back in my knee. When I was first released to start running was the most difficult part for me because I had to completely re-learn my stride and it felt as though I was running on a prosethic leg. My knee didn’t feel like it belonged to me and I kept hoping that at the end of my rehabilition process my knee would feel like my own. It was a constant battle for months trying to imagine what it would be like playing soccer again when I was struggling to just jog straight in gym shoes.
Finally after a long 10 months I was back at Madison and I was cleared to play for 20 minutes per half in our first away game against UCONN. Within the first 5 minutes of the game one of our starting centerbacks hurt her ankle so bad that she had to come out of the game. I was put in to replace her and ended up finishing the whole game and never looked back. Since that game 2 years ago I have played every minute of every game and was able to end my 5 year collegiate career as a Big Ten Champion. I am extremely grateful for being able to have had Dr. Cole as my surgeon.
Being in the hands of someone that my mother truely respects and is confident in lifted such a large weight off my shoulders because I knew I would come out of surgery and return to the game I love to play.
