So, my story starts on March 17th, 2012 known to most as St. Patty's
Day. I headed over to Aspen to compete in the Kickaspen Big Air with my
friends Will Berman, Matt Walker and Pat Goodnough. Fast forward to the
comp, I made it to the finals and bobbled my first run so I wanted to
send it on my second. On my way into the jump I was so stoked and I came
in with maybe a little too much speed and popped a little too hard and
ended up sending my switch 12 farrr down the landing. The whole trick
felt money and I totally thought I was going to stomp. When my left foot
touched the snow my knee decided to bend the wrong way inward towards
my right leg, the way no knee should bend. I fell down and before I knew
it Will and two med staff guys were there asking me where it hurt. I
said only on the inside and after a couple breaths I decided I was fine.
I got help up and when I tried to take a step on my left leg my knee
folded in half again and I fell to the ground. After a nice fire-man
carry down to a bench I got to watch Walker and Will take first and
second. Then I hobbled down to my car and made an excruciating two hour
drive back to Breck.
The next day I went to the Breck ER where they told me my ACL and MCL
were both done for and I might have some miniscus damage. Ok, pimp,
surgery for sure. Mom flew in to help me out and we went over to Vail to
get an MRI and talk with a surgeon. There they confirmed my ACL and MCL
were completely shredded along with my LCL, plus two tears in the
meniscus one on each side and I tore a tendon right off of my hamstring.
Four days later I had complete reconstructive surgery and a really
sucky two night hospital stay. I stayed in Vail for two weeks to get my
physical therapy rolling then we headed back to Breck, packed up all my
things in my Jeep and my Mom drove 18 hours back to Minnesota while I
sat sideways drugged up in the back seat.
Now, I'm 10 weeks out of surgery back home, just started to walk a
little bit without crutches two days ago. I'm working as hard as I can
to get my knee back strong again for skiing. I'll hopefully start to
shred again in January or February and I cant wait! Blowing my knee
really put a bummer on my season as I couldn't attend any of the TSP
park shoots I had planned on our go out to Hood for the West Coast Sesh
or summertime at Windells. But, being laid up for these past two months
has already given me a new appreciation for skiing and even walking. You
really never know how fortunate and blessed you are until you get it
all taken away. I cannot wait for my knee to get stronger and to start
skiing. In the meantime I've been working on my seggy for the new TSP
movie coming out next fall and I'm pretty stoked on the the shots I did
get out of this season. If I had advice for all my fellow skiers It'd be
to be thankful for what you have, every day is a blessing and maybe
turn your DINs down by one notch. :p
