Student Blog: Reflecting on Adversity

Hi I’m Duncan Brown and I've been playing sports for as long as I can remember. My favorite sport is football. I have been playing tackle football since 3rd grade and now I am playing in my last year at Everest Collegiate High School.

Football has always been everything to me whether it was playing, watching, or even listening to it. Football and the amazing coaches I have had over the past 10 years of playing, have helped shape me to be the man I am today.

Skipping ahead to junior year because that is where I had a defining moment. That summer we had Veer Camp, a Ferris State University run football camp. I was playing the best football I've ever played and my coaches expected a lot. On the last day of camp, I hurt my hand. I couldn’t bend my left three fingers after the injury, but continued to play at the advice of the coaches. Several hours after the camp, my hand had swollen to the width of a baseball. My dad sent a picture of my hand to our doctor and he suspected it was broken, so we went to the urgent care for x-rays and found out that I had completely broken my 4th metacarpal on my ring finger which basically means I broke the knuckle. This was devastating for me because of how much work I had put in during the summer getting better at the sport I loved. They told me that I would miss between 6-8 weeks and would need surgery – the season was 5 weeks away. I had surgery where doctors put 3 pins through my knuckle.

After 6 weeks my hand was healed enough to take off the cast and remove the pins. After my hand was free I tried moving it right away and without a doubt in my mind, I thought I was going to be able to do everything I used to be able to do with my hand but I could barely move it at all. I tried using my hand and it was excruciating but I didn't let that stop me. I was so excited to be able to participate in football practice that day. I wrapped my hand in a yoga mat and a bunch of tape to help cushion everything. For the next 2 weeks, I went to occupational therapy and worked hard to earn my starting spot back on the team.

I started my 3rd game back after the surgery and the whole year I dominated in every game. This year was the best team our school had ever had and we were championship bound. After beating our rivals Cardinal Mooney in the Regional Final game to secure a spot in the state semifinal I got sick. This wasn't normal sickness, this was worse than anything I had ever experienced. I still showed up to practice everyday that week even though I could barely stand. I hoped my sickness would get better throughout the week but it didn't. I had to go by ambulance to the ER because the doctor's office thought I was going to stop breathing because of how swollen my tonsils were. The final diagnosis - acute tonsillitis, so while my football team was out playing for a state semifinal game, I was in a hospital bed in the ER, watching the game on my phone. Sadly our team lost in a hard fought game.

At the end of season we had our team banquet where the awards were passed out and even though I missed multiple games, I received the award for best lineman. This adventurous year led me to the consensus that no matter how low things go, you can always bounce back and I did and overcame the adversity.