Worth the risk
Greendale player won't be kept off the soccer field
Posted: Oct. 16, 2006
Anthony Witrado
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Andrew Brown is willing to die for his playing time.
Literally. No exaggeration. When Brown laces his cleats, secures his shin guards and steps onto the field, he is putting his life in danger.
Brown is a senior soccer player at Greendale, a kid who comes from a family that breathes the sport. His father is a coach and his sister also plays. Brown, a four-year varsity letterman, will play on his home turf for the final time tonight, a senior night that will mean more to him than most people know.
When Brown was a freshman, doctors told him he needed surgery to try to help a condition he has had since he was born: pectus excavatum. It causes the ribcage to cave in instead of bow out to protect his vital organs and has shifted Brown's heart and lungs.
Brown had played and lived with the condition his whole life, but the pain was too much and surgery was needed. He had a 15-inch steel U-shaped bar inserted under his ribcage, as if it were hugging his body. The desired effect was to push out his ribs, similar to how braces work if they were put on the inside of the teeth.
Brown sat home for three months and missed school.
"It had to be the most painful months of my life," he says.
The pain ended up being for nothing. The bar flipped inside Brown's chest and ended up looking like an upside down "U" in his chest. He says the doctor never informed him or his parents of the complication, and Brown lived with the pain and useless piece of metal until this summer.
On July 11, weeks before Brown's senior season, he had a second surgery. Surgeons cracked Brown's sternum in half horizontally, removed two ribs and cut out muscle and cartilage before putting in a 7-inch "U."
The worst part was still to come. Doctors told Brown he had no chance of playing his senior season because the risk was too high. An elbow, a kick or even a ball could crack his sternum and it could be fatal.
"It hit me like a ton of bricks," Brown says. "(It) just knocks you off your feet. It was a big letdown."
He refused to let that be the end of it, though. He had to do some convincing before his parents, Cindy and James, eventually approved.
"Since there really is no next season for me," Brown says, "I think that gave them the extra push."
Brown, a midfielder and defender, did not tell first-year coach George Knezic about the condition and practiced anyway. The alumni game was Brown's first since the surgery and nearly his last. He attempted a slide tackle and the offensive player's body fell on Brown's chest.
Panic and pain came next.
"It was one of the worst pains ever," he says. "I couldn't deal with it anymore."
Brown later told Knezic the cause of the pain and decided to be team manager. Brown still practiced some but was nailed to the bench during matches. For someone whose first love is the sport, it became difficult to determine which pain was worse: his chest, or merely watching.
Brown has had virtually constant pain since the first surgery, whether it's taking a deep breath or stretching the wrong way, even though his heart and lungs have shifted back to their original positions.
Still, around the middle of the season, he came off the bench for spot minutes.
"Soccer was and still is my life," Brown says. "I couldn't deal with it anymore. I was going to play soccer even if it killed me, literally.
"It scares the crap out of me every time I step on the field. Your teammates worry about getting hurt, but not the same way I do."
Instincts tell a soccer player if the ball is in the air, chest it down to gain control. If there is a 50-50 ball, go all out to gain possession. Brown's instincts are pushed aside for those things, and he has to be careful about how he plays those situations. He obviously isn't the player he once was, but he is a source of inspiration for the team, Knezic says.
He should be. Dedicated athletes, whether elite or average, have a different pedigree. They will do almost anything to pursue their livelihood.
Brown is no different. Call him crazy; his parents, family and friends have. Tell him the rewards don't outweigh the consequences. That's not the opinion of an athlete; that's not the opinion of Brown.
"This sport means everything to me," he says. "I don't know what I'd do if I didn't play soccer. I'm even more than 110% committed to this. The pain gets so intense sometimes it brings me to my knees, but I have to play and I will."
Just like tonight, when Brown plays his final home game. Mom Cindy Brown will probably cry. Dad James Brown will be filled with pride. Andrew Brown will start and play the majority of the match.
"I'm kind of worried about how that's going to turn out," Brown says. "But at the same time I really want to do it, and it will be my last chance in high school to do something like this.
"There is no way I won't play. No way I won't start."
Injured or not, that is the spirit of a true competitor.
Send e-mail to awitrado@journalsentinel.com
From the Oct. 17, 2006 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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I was going to play soccer even if it killed me, literally.
