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Haley Continues to Heal Following Injury

Leyton High School football player Drew Haley continues to recuperate from an injury he sustained at the Leyton season opener Aug. 30.

In the first quarter of that game, Haley went high to catch a pass, but when he came down his knee was severely injured, the injury cutting off blood flow to his lower leg. As a result, part of Haley’s lower leg had to be amputated.

Even so, the Haley family has continued to count its blessings along the way. Among those was that the amputation was not performed at the knee as first feared. Doctors found there was still living muscle in his calf, which allowed for Haley to keep more of the leg, giving him the potential for more mobility as he recuperates.

Doctors also have told the family they believe the tendons in Haley’s knee can be rebuilt, again allowing for more mobility.

“So we’re looking at a best-case scenario from a situation we never could have anticipated,” said Haley’s father Matt. “Every day there are wins.”

Haley has undergone a number of surgeries since the injury. The most recent, last Friday and again Monday, were to remove dead tissue that could cause infection if left in place. Monday’s operation was to have been to close Drew’s wound, the final step before he can begin physical therapy. But in making a last inspection of tissue, doctors found a small pocket of dead tissue deep inside the calf muscle and had to remove it, delaying the closure, which is expected to take place today.”

“Drew was disappointed,” Alison Haley, Drew’s mother said of the Monday finding. “He wants to get this over and start PT.”

But, she said, the family knows the delay of a couple of days is better than having something missed and cause longer ranging problems later.

Through it all, Alison said Drew is maintaining his sense of humor. That humor sometimes surprises hospital caregivers, who are taken aback with wry comments as they gently approach what they see as a victim. When physical therapy aides approached him and apologized for his “predicament,” Alison said Drew took them aback when he quipped “Don’t worry about it, I didn’t like that foot anyway.”

Such comments and his general attitude amaze not only Drew’s caregivers, but his parents as well.

“Not once has he said he’s angry,” Matt said of Drew’s attitude and reaction.

In fact, Alison said Drew has been inspiring to her as she deals with the situation.

“When I see his determination, that gives me strength,” she said.

Drew’s determination also indicates an unwillingness to let the injury slow him down. At one point, Alison shared, Drew and a friend were talking about an activity he has come to enjoy. Following a comment that the activity might be a thing of the past, Haley said, “why would I stop doing the things I’ve done before?”

 

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