By Ashton Fogle
Growing up, I always wanted to become a dancer just like my aunt. My parents enrolled me in dance class when I was 3 years old, and I have been dancing ever since. (http://www.thedancersschool.com). Though I loved dance very much, it wasn’t the only thing I was interested in.
On my 10th birthday, I had asked my parents if I could try a new sport, soccer. When I told them what sport I wished to try, they were very shocked but also thrilled. My mom didn’t like the idea of her little girl playing soccer. She was very protective of me and didn’t want me to get hurt. My dad, on the other hand, loved the idea. He had played soccer when he was growing up, so of course that made me want to try it even more. He told me if I didn’t like it, then we would just keep trying until I found something I loved. Right then and there, I had made the decision to play soccer.
As soccer season started in summer of 2014, I was ready to play. I was eager to figure out what I wanted to do with my future. (http://arrowsup.org/girls_soccer) Our first game of the season, we won 2-0 against Cannon County. I scored the first goal. Then our second game we won 3-1 against Shelbyville. And then it all went downhill from here. Our third game of the season, we were playing Franklin High. It was 20 minutes into the first half. I was dribbling the ball down the field so close to scoring. I could feel the intensity running through my bones. As I was shooting, a girl came up behind me and completely took my legs out. I was planting my foot to shoot the ball. All of my weight was on my left leg, and that’s when the girl swiped my legs out from under me and I fell right on my knee. I heard the crowd gasp as I was falling. My teammates were running towards me asking if I was okay. I didn’t respond. I was in shock. I was in pain. All I remember is asking for water over and over again. 
In that moment I thought to myself, “What in the world just happened?” the light flashed before my eyes, and I wasn’t real sure if I was hurt or just got the breath knocked out of me. As I was lying there on the ground, my coach and a few of my teammates ran over to see if I was okay. I told them that my knee was hurting really bad, and I couldn’t straighten it. They asked me if I could stand up, so I tried, but I couldn’t walk on it. This was a pain I have never felt before. I thought it was all a dream. The trainer got there as I was trying to get up, and he carried me off the field. My mom was pretty upset because in high school soccer parents aren’t allowed to step on the field so she couldn’t even see if I was okay. The trainer took me off of the field and checked out my knee. He asked a few questions and said that I might have torn something. I looked at him and started to cry. All I could think about was, "Is this the last game I’ll ever get to play?" or "Am I going to have to have surgery?". My knee was swollen, it was throbbing and turning purple. My mom finally got to me and asked me if I wanted to go to the hospital, and of course I said no. I’ve never been to the hospital, and I was frightened of what they were going to say.
That night I went home and iced it. I couldn’t sleep at all through the night because the pain was horrifying. The next day, I went to school to see the trainer. I wanted to see if he knew anything before having to go to the doctor. He told me that my MCL could possibly be torn and I should stay off of my leg until I saw a doctor. A few days later, my mom scheduled an appointment for me with an Orthopedic surgeon. He told me that everything was fine I just needed to stay off of the knee for a couple of weeks until the swelling went down. He asked me to come back in a week or two for a follow up appointment. I did so, thinking nothing was wrong. After a few weeks I went back to dance and practicing a little with the soccer team. My knee didn’t feel the same though. I had told my surgeon that, but he persistently told me everything was fine.
After almost a year of dancing and playing on my knee, it turned out the surgeon I was going to wasn’t qualified for knee surgery, so I went to a surgeon who was qualified. His name was Michael Jordan(https://toa.com/physicians/michael-r-jordan-md) whom I personally thought was pretty awesome. Dr. Jordan told me I should get an MRI to see what was really going on inside my knee. It was going to take a couple of weeks to get the results back. During those couple of weeks, I was anxious, and scared to see what the results would be. I didn’t want my soccer or dance career to end. My results finally came back. The doctor asked me to come in so he could talk to me in person. I obviously knew something wasn’t right. Walking into the building to see the surgeon was terrifying. The doctor said there was some bad and good news. I had a torn ACL and meniscus and that I would require surgery and lots of therapy afterwards. After hearing that, my heart dropped, I didn’t know what to think. I had never had surgery in my life, and I just wasn’t expecting it. 
He scheduled my surgery for May 29, 2015. After surgery, I would have physical therapy for three months, twice a week, for two hours at a time. Therapy was very hard, especially right after surgery. You almost forget how to do some things, but once you feel that feeling of “oh I can do this”, it just gets easier and easier. During the three months of physical therapy, I learned a lot about myself and who I want to be after I graduate from high school. Physical therapy changed my perspective on things, and during it, I decided that I wanted to become a physical therapist. I want to help people get through tough times and I want to help them succeed just like I did. It’s 2016, and I am a freshman in college. I have not started playing soccer yet, but this year I did start dancing again. I didn’t realize how much I missed it until I got back in class. One day I will be ready to step back onto the soccer field and start playing again. I cannot wait until that day. 
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