There are some incredible instances of players in sports continuing to compete with horrifying injuries, often being driven by pure will alone when the body is broken.
Take young Connor Callihan for example. Callihan is a junior cross-country runner for T.C. Roberson High School in Asheville, North Carolina, and in what turned out to be his last run of the year, he made sure to cross the finish line…even with a broken leg that had just snapped like a twig seconds earlier. Asheville Citizen-Times’ Bob Berghaus paints a vivid picture of the heroism Callihan showed:
Running in the Mountain Athletic Conference meet at Fletcher Community Park on Monday, Callihan took a tumble. But it wasn’t from exhaustion. Several feet from the finish, his right leg snapped like a twig, breaking in several places. People started yelling for Callihan to finish, unaware what had happened. But he knew what he had to do. “This was my last race of the year,” Callihan said by phone from his bed in Mission Hospital on Tuesday. “I just had to finish for my team. I just had to.” So, he crawled the remainder of the way, despite feeling pain he’s never experienced before in his young life.
According to Callihan’s mother, Stephanie, his tibia bone was broken in three places. She also stated that he’d been complaining of leg pain less than a week before the race, but wanted to run anyway. A doctor told the boy and his mother that he’d likely suffered a stress fracture some time ago and over time it just worsened until it gave way when he was only feet from the finish line on Monday.
Callihan underwent successful surgery on Tuesday and is currently recovering in the hospital.
[h/t Asheville Citizen-Times]