Winning the Injury Battle

Playing is winning.

Parker Johnson is an attackman for D2 monster house UIndy. He’s in his sixth season and has 12 points in six games so far as a starter for the Greyhounds. Here he talks about how he recovered from a catastrophic injury in 2020.

Follow him on Instagram: @parkerjohnsonjb #AlphaDogs

At some point in every lacrosse career, injuries happen. Injuries are inevitable and about as predictable as the stock market. The true measure of resiliency is the ability to rebound from injuries and be better than you were before. The greatest athletes of all time have done so and will be remembered forever because of this. In the world of lacrosse, there is no more resilient player than John Grant Jr. The man broke every scoring record with countless injuries that would have made mere mortals crumble. He retired at the top of his game and returned after his records were broken just to prove a point. Junior serves as the benchmark for winning the injury battle, something I am attempting to do now. What people do not realize about Junior is that he changed the culture of every room he was in. Whether he was with the Peterborough Lakers, the Denver Outlaws, or a men’s league team, Junior’s presence created a winning and inclusive culture. 

Photo courtesy of UIndy Athletics

I have gotten hurt playing lacrosse many times, as everyone has. Sprained ankles, concussions, bruises, a damaged ego - they were all things that were relatively easy to work through. Up until November 2020, I had been very fortunate when it came to injuries. After what seemed like a regular muscle strain in my neck, I was driven to the hospital and admitted to the ICU. Nobody knew what was wrong with me, but my blood pressure was catastrophically low and I had started to turn blue from a lack of oxygenation. After a few rough days in the ICU, doctors diagnosed me with Lemierre’s Syndrome. If you are a doctor, there is a chance that you’ve heard of Lemierre’s Syndrome. If you’re a regular person, I know you haven’t heard of it. This was a one-in-a-million illness resulting in a blood clot in my jugular vein, pulmonary emboli scattered throughout my right lung, and a rapid sepsis infection. 

After 10 days in the hospital receiving the maximum dosage of Dilaudid every four hours, double IV’s pumping blood thinners and antibiotics into my system 24/7, and breathing from a machine, I left with a permanent IV installed in my left bicep. For the next two weeks, antibiotics were administered through that IV every morning at the Indianapolis Cancer Center to prevent additional clots. I entered the hospital as a 185-pound college athlete and left at 160-pounds like I was Christian Bale preparing for his role in “The Machinist”. The days following my discharge were the hardest. I couldn’t walk around the block without having to sit down and take a break. Unbeknownst to me, my coaches held a meeting with the whole team during my stay in the hospital. 

I did not realize how close to death I was until I became privy to the words spoken during that meeting. 

If you should ever fall ill to this extent, you should be so lucky to have the support that was available in my case. During the coming months, I had to work from being unable to walk a mile back to playing shape. The 2021 season was still my goal. Unfortunately, I had developed a heart condition and Splenomegaly, enlargement of the spleen. If you remember, Sam Handley of UPenn ruptured his spleen in a game during the shortened 2020 season; I had to redshirt for fear of the same fate. 

Throughout this whole ordeal, there was one constant: team culture. Teams in all sports preach the “next man up” mentality, when one of your brothers goes down the next one steps up. Luckily, one teammate stepped up and filled the role that needed to be filled allowing my UIndy Greyhounds to make it to the NCAA quarterfinals. It was difficult to watch from home with the other Band-aids because feeling disconnected during IR time is a sneaky mental threat. 

The culture of UIndy allowed the team to be successful. Countless players have encountered tendon tearing injuries that come with playing lacrosse and not once has a player ever felt like they were no longer a part of this winning machine. Culture is the most important part of building a winning team and the staff certainly did that. 

Culture is what allows a team missing a starter at each key position to still win. A team can boast about the All-Americans they have and still not have the resiliency and winning culture to go the distance. Despite being shelved for 11 months, the desire to win and contribute never dissipated. Making those who cannot physically be a part of the team feel as though they are needed and contributing is difficult, but it is vital. 

Battling injuries seems like a physical battle, but in reality, it’s 99% mental. If Alex Smith can come back and quarterback an NFL team, I can certainly come back and chuck twisters in the back of the net for a D2 lacrosse team. Unless the doctors say your career is over, it never really is. The mental toughness to come back from a half-time deficit is the same mental toughness necessary to recover from anything that would have destroyed a lesser man. 

The biggest help I received during my time on the shelf was from Coach Stocks. “G Stacks” believed I would be able to come back, or at least that is what he told me. Medical retirement was on the horizon, but the support I received allowed me to keep going. There was a next man up, but the opportunity to earn a spot is always there for the taking. A team that supports its injured players by leaving their scholarship intact, saving their locker, and keeping them on the sidelines dishing out high fives is a team that truly supports its players.

An inclusive culture is a winning culture.