I get out of the car and walk over to where we’re practicing. I think about what we’re going to do today and what are the possibilities of my teammates making me cry on the inside, to the point where I can’t take it anymore, today. As soon as I get over there, I shake my coaches hand and grab a ball to start juggling. For some reason whenever someone is looking at me juggling, I can only get 30 or 40 as a normal, but when it’s just me and the ball,] I get 100 or more juggles. As I’m juggling I’m not really counting anymore I’m thinking about what we might do in practice today and how the rest of my day may go. Throughout our warm-up I have this feeling that someone is going to get badly injured. After the warm-up and drills, coach puts us into teams and we start scrimmaging. Right away I score a goal, then another and another.

     About 20 minutes into the scrimmage Emma, my teammate passes me the ball then yells, “Man-on!”. Just as I’m about to pass the ball, Sydney, my teammate who is on the other team for the scrimmage, steps on my foot and my knee completely twists I hear a “pop” and a “crack and that’s when I know some thing’s wrong. I automatically think, “what if…”. I hear a scream and feel a tear go down my face, it's not very often that I cry. Next thing I know I’m on the way to the hospital.

     I’m in a wheelchair on the way to the x-ray room, in the Palo Alto Medical Hospital. I’ve been in many x-ray rooms before so I’m not new to the equipment they have to use, or where all the equipment is. The women helped me get onto the table where they have me lay down and they place a pink, canvas layered, fabric with a black rim, on top of my knee and the area around it. The first position the lady has me put my leg in is where she has me bend my knee as much as possible. Then she has me lay on my side with my injured leg closest to the ceiling, where the x-ray machine is. The next position she has me put my leg in is to lay my leg out as far as possible. “Sweetie this position is going to hurt the most, and I don't want u to resist.” She says. My leg doesn't go too far out but I'm in deep pain. It takes the machine about 20 seconds to take the x-ray shot for every position. It doesn’t seem like a lot but when you have to hold the same position until the machine finishes taking the shot, it is really painful and seems like forever. Throughout this whole process all I can think about is all the things that could result from this injury, and none of my thoughts are very bright, like the fact that I could end up having to quit soccer, and the scariest is that there is about a 95% chance I would need surgery according to the results they have so far. But the radiologists still have to take a look at my x-ray shots, I should be getting the results in about a day or two.

     It’s only been a day after I’ve taken the x-rays. I still haven’t received the x-ray results yet, but I’ve been given crutches and they said I will need them for about 2-3 months, depending on the damage and how quickly I get my strength back. All I can think about lately are the results. next thing I know, my dad walks into the kitchen, and takes off his shoes.
         “Skai I got the results for your x-ray,” he says.
All my attention automatically goes to him. I’m both worried and a bit anxious to know the results. I jump out  of my seat, then collapse onto the ground remembering that I had injured my knee. I use the counter and my left leg to get back up. I stand on one foot while my dad tells me the results.
     “The doctor said that you have torn your MCL,” right as my dad says that I’m already really worried, and I know that this injury is pretty bad, but there was still more. “ He said that you had also dislocated your knee cap at the time of the injury. “He also said that you partially tore your meniscus and three other supporting ligaments.” The first thought I have is that there is no way that I’m going back to soccer anytime soon.

     “The doctor also mentioned that they found something very unusual when giving you the x-rays and that it’s something that people have been looking for for years, something that could possibly save us.” Now I just have this added pressure and I feel like I’m going to faint. But at the same time now I can prove to everyone that there is something in me that makes me special, something that people need.