The Road to Recovery

When you have kids that play competitive sports an injury is bound to happen sooner or later. Unfortunately for Kayla, it happened 5 months before she leaves to play college soccer. It was during an ECNL game in California that Kayla got her cleat stuck in the turf and tore her ACL & meniscus and sprained her MCL.

I am so thankful that my parents were with her that weekend. What's the next best thing to mom when you get hurt? Grammy and GT! They were able to take care of her and get her home as quickly as possible.

At first her spirits were a little low, but in true Kayla fashion....she picked herself up and faced it head on! I couldn't be more proud of this kid! Her coaches at Eastern Washington were so great! They let her know that they loved her and valued her and that she was still part of the family! They told her to focus on her recovery and that they would support her all the way! They really took the pressure off and made her feel so much better. She will red shirt her freshman year, but that's ok. As a freshman she wasn't expecting a lot of playing time anyway.

The Dr. (Cory Nelson) and physical therapist (Tom Bratcher) are the best! It's a 6-9 month full recovery for an injury of this type. Kayla is in therapy 3 days a week, 3 hours a day! The girl is a beast! She started riding the bike 10 days after surgery and was off crutches in just 2 weeks! I've seen Tom make grown men cry during rehab, but KK hasn't cried once! We are very blessed to be able to do PT at the Center for Athletic Performance. They have worked with so many high level athletes including Sydney Leroux (player for the US Women's National Soccer Team)!

Kayla and I have dubbed this as her Road to Recovery. Here are a few pictures from along the way.