A Journey of Courage

This article that I read was about a remarkable student in high shool who experienced something tragic. His name is Jacob Rainey and he is a football quarterback who has had much success as in past seasons. Then disaster struck. During  a routine schrimmage this young man was about to be tackled and could have taken a loss of yards, but this not how he liked to play. He pushed forward for a few extra yards, this is a decision he will regret making for the rest of his life. On being tackled his knee dislocated and his artery ruptured. As Jacob states, '"I just heard a pop, and the next thing I knew I was on the ground."' He now was at a high risk of infection and even death from this injury. Many surgeries took place, but in the end his leg had to be amputated at the knee. He was able to have a prosthetic leg on so he could walk again. However Jacob still had one more request, he wanted to play football again. It was a long proccess that Jacob went through. After months of work, he just couldnt get used to the prosthetic leg. "In March, six months after the amputation, Rainey met up with his phsical therapist for the first time. At that point, Rainey wasn't even close to running," (O'Brien 13). Everyone knew that Jacob would not be on the field any time soon and many even thought he would never play again, but he proved them wrong. He did everything exactly right, and by the time September rolled around and it was time for the first game, Jacob was ready to play. Of course they didn't want to risk anything so he only was in for five plays and had one completed one pass, but that pass was for a touchdown, the first of the season. One can only assume that the stadium exploded with cheers and tears. He had done it. The kid, who only one year ago, was thought to never be able to run again, was now playing football. This shows true strength and persistance. The author explains the emotion of the event so well, I felt like one of the fans in the stands when I heard that he played in a game. This article explains to never give up and keep pushing no matter what. This was a very motivational article.