Student story: Back injury doesn't stop Andover student from attending camp

By Shelby Simpson/Advanced Writing

Just one play could change an entire summer and senior year.

For Alex Leff, an Andover High School senior attending the Flint Hills Publications Workshop, being sore is not a problem. When you’re involved in football and baseball, your body is used to being beat up and pushed around. Until about three weeks ago, Leff had no idea his sports-filled summer would come to a screeching halt.

The sun beat down on the already burnt grass of the baseball field. Leff sat behind home plate, sweat dripping from his beat-up catchers mask. He stayed attentive, ready for the runner on third to try and steal home.

As Leff bobbled the ball in his mitt, he saw the runner sprinting toward home plate. Both players rushed to the plate.

Leff reached the plate just before the runner, but the runner couldn’t stop his momentum and smashed into Leff at full speed.

The crowd stared and gasped.

“When I was hit, my legs stayed in place and my back went backwards, away from the rest of my body,” Leff said. “I tried to get up, but I couldn’t move at all. I remember just laying in the dirt looking up at the sky until my coaches came and took me off of the field.”

Leff was immediately taken to the emergency room.

After many x-rays, doctors concluded Leff had hairline fractures in two of his vertebrae in the lumbar area, and a third fracture in a separate vertebrae.

The doctor said Leff would have to have surgery with recovery time of three to four months.

This has been a big setback for Leff, who had colleges recruiting him for baseball his junior year and had many coaches he was going to meet with and show off his skills to this summer. But this back injury means no camps or practicing during summer to stay in shape. Worst, Leff can’t play football in the fall.

“I had to go through radiation for my back, and it made me really weak,” Leff said.

Leff was supposed to go into surgery the third week of July, but he had already invested more than $300 to attend the Flint Hills Publication Workshop. He knew he could be in a ton of pain if he went. Long walks make his back stiff, and when he sits, he has to lean back. But he didn’t want the money to go to waste.

Along with sports Leff is also an editor for his school’s newspaper, so he decided to go.

“Some of my favorite things about camp have been that I can socialize with people again, because most of the summer I have been stuck at home resting my back,” Leff said. “But the dorms also surprised me. I thought that they were going to be a lot fancier than they actually are.”

Leff will have surgery soon after he gets back from camp. He hopes to recover as quickly as he can and get back into the swing of things before baseball season starts in the spring.