On April 30, 2019 I was on my way over to the hockey rink after school. I was so tired. I felt like I was hit with a truck. Every muscle in my body ached, my eyes could barely stay open, and I had a headache that was more painful than anything I have ever felt. My body was slouched over like a troll; I look like I was about to die. Literally.
I arrived at the hockey rink and grabbed my bag from the trunk of the far. It wasn't easy. I had a hard time lifting it with the pain that was travelling through my body, but I pushed through and managed to pick it up. I started to make my way inside the rink. After a long; very painful walk, I made it inside the rink. I glanced over at the T.V with pain painted all over my face. I saw what dressing room we were assigned to and started to make my way there to get dressed and ready for my practice.
I arrived in the room and layed my bag down. That was such a feeling of relief. It felt like I was carrying an elephant the whole time my hockey bag was on my shoulder. As soon as I sat down, I heard a voice outside the dressing room door. It was my coach. I heard it creeping closer towards me as I was getting dressed. I knew he was coming in to talk to me, and frankly, I didn't want that but I had no choice. I didn't want to show him I was in pain so I had to act like everything was okay. It wasn't going to be easy. My pain was beyond the imagination of anyone that day. The voice got closer. Sending vibrations through my body and filling my veins with tension. More tension than what was already there. I felt my body starting to become overwhelmed with stress, sweat dripping down my neck, I was in so much pain. I didn't show it or want to show it.
My coach opened the door slowly to my dressing room. The door crackled as it opened. It sounded like it wasn't opened in years. My coach glanced over at me while I was getting ready for my practice. He was a bigger set guy with a mustache. His clothes looked like they weren't washed in weeks and could have been two sizes too big for him. His face was a little nerve racking to look at, his eyes would strike fear into anybody who looked at them closely, he just looked cruel. However, he was one of the nicest people you will ever meet.
"How are you?" Asked my coach in a cracked up voice.
"I'm okay, just trying to make it through the day" I responded with struggle and hesitation in my voice as I was lying to him.
"We will be doing some high tempo skating today, so be ready to work!" My coach said to me with a smile on his face so big it kind of scared me. He knows I hate skating which is what made him smile even more.
"Okay coach" I responded in a very low and annoyed sounding voice as I knew this couldn't go well with the way I was feeling.
After getting dressed I finally took a step onto the Ice. The ice was smoother than a baby's skin, and felt so amazing on my skates. The ice was lit up like a christmas tree from the lights on the ceiling and it just made all my pain vanish in seconds. It was breathtaking. It made me think of something else besides the massive amount of violent pain I was feeling in my body throughout the day. I knew this ice time was going to be a little bit better now, since my pain is started to feel a bit better with my mind not constantly thinking about it.
I was on the blue line getting ready for my very first drill of my practice. There was lots of skating involved, and I wasn't sure how it was going to go, or even If my body could make it through the drill. I had to power through and try and that's exactly what I did.
The coach blew his whistle to initiate the drill. I reacted in a flash and started to make my way around the ice in the pattern he demonstrated for me to follow. I was finally making my way onto my last turn when everything went wrong. The coach passed to me too early and the pass ended up in my skates. Not on my stick where it should've been. I tried to kick the puck to my skates but the velocity of the pass was too much for me to handle in stride. The puck banged on my skates which made me fall hard onto the ice surface. I crashed into the boards and it sounded like a gun had just been fired with how hard the impact of the crash was. I was In shock and I felt my body go into a panicked state. I wasn't sure why. I looked down and then I saw it. My skate was stabbed inside my leg and I was losing massive amounts of blood. I could tell I cut my main artery in my thigh. This was life and death.
My coach rushed over to me, skating faster than he has ever skated in his life to attend to my injury. He quickly grabbed my sock and pulled it off my leg and used it as a tourniquet for my cut, to stop the blood from coming squirting out of my leg. I started to get light headed and I passed out from the blood loss. My body was in a mode I have never felt it in. I was facing a real life fatal situation. It was drastically scary. However, I fought through and woke up in the hospital bed with more than 75 stitches on the inside and outside of my leg. I was hurting and felt horrible from the amount of blood that left my body on the ice surface.
I will never forget that day as long as I live. It changed my outlook on life completely and made me realize that life is too short for you to not live it to your full potential. I do that everyday now. I try to live my life the best I can. I have never been more happy by doing so.
Written by Owen Atkins
Comments