Elitetrack: Sport Training & Conditioning

This past weekend one of the elite jumpers I work with had a catastrophic injury. During a competition at UNC, Jade Ellis tore his left Achilles tendon as he ran down the run way for his sixth attempt in the long jump. Training had been going well and he was jumping great (especially considering the relatively slow surface at UNC) and everything was going well until that final jump. Jade is a grea
 
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Very good of you, Mike.  Hoping for a swift and full recovery.  I suggest that he contact Dr. Tony Miniaci at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.  He performed Donovan’s achilles surgery and is highly recommended.

For less money, there are famous surgeons working with soccer players here in italy…I hope he gets well soon…2400$ for an MRI?there is something wrong with medical system in the USA…for not wealthy people..an MRI here can be..30 euros and wait some weeks to get…or you pay, have in in 2 days ..and pay..100 -150..it depends..

eroszag—most people don’t have to pay at all for MRIs, only if they don’t have insurance.

Very very sorry to hear about the injury, Jade/Mike. Terrible for things to happen to good people.

I know some sports med docs who will essentially do some surgeries, for certain people, for free or at very low cost when situations like this happen. Maybe one hears about Jade.

Damn, sorry to hear this!

You/he should get some info on prices in other countries. Not only for MRI but you should/could check for any known and respectable doctors abroad as well.
20k is A LOT of money!
Sending some emails and getting infos from here and there is free.

I understand a bit of your health system, but still lots of people cannot afford lots of things without insurance.
In Europe and Italy you find a high level medical support..I thought it was expensive, but I have always to remember the USA.
If you Mike want to find a different route, I’ll be happy to ask some for some contacts here.

If you want to start a thread on the US healthcare system, let’s do that elsewhere.

Hoping again for the best for Jade—anybody have recommendations about what is available from the DVDs/Book collection on Mike’s site? It sounds like a great way to help him out.

I just wanna take a moment to thank everyone for their support as I move through this injury.  I’ve known Mike and his training group for only a few months and working with them has been an absolute treat.  They welcomed me in from a situation where I was very unhappy and made me feel right at home.

When I first heard the resounding POP of an Achilles tear, which I know oh so well, so many thoughts flashed through my mind.  How am I going to afford surgery?  What does this mean for my season?  What does this mean for my career?  I hit my goal for the meet, did I really need to take that last jump?  It was a rough moment to say the least.

When I tore my right Achilles, I was lucky enough to be a member of a Duke athletic team with access to some of the best doctors, surgeons and orthopedist in the nation.  I was told where to go and when to be there.  Its easy when things are being done for you.

The hardest thing about this tear is developing a clear vision of my future.  Unsure of how I would pay or even if I would be even able to see a doctor.  Things seem a bit harder this time around, but the help and support that everyone has shown thus far, the pieces are beginning to fall back into place.

Im generally a very conservative man when it comes to my emotions.  But I would like everyone to know how much this means to me.  I really can’t put it into words.  I couldn’t possibly do this without knowing there are people out there who want to see me succeed.

-Jade

Not much time but wanted to update…

Jade had an MRI, we’re waiting on results.

Coupon codes for store credit are being generated for those who donated and will be sent out tomorrow.

Next appointment is this thursday @ 2:30 to decide if surgery will be required.

MRI results (not the actual image) are attached

Update:

Jade will definitely require surgery and we’re trying to get it to happen sooner rather than later. I think we’re going to be using a professional contact in OH who’s offered to do the surgery at significant savings as a favor. Obviously this is a time sensitive issue.

Thanks again to all who donated. If you donated more than $50 you should have received an email from me about your store credit. If you didn’t get it check your junk mail. The fund raising effort was very successful.

As noted in the updated version of the blog post, I’ve stopped offering the store credit deal. You can still donate if you’d like but I’m unable to continue with the store credit offer.

Update:
Jade never ended up having surgery. Based on the recommendation of 2 doctors who found the Achilles had begun to reattach by itself. He’s had 2 PRP injections in the past month and done some training before and between them. The 2nd one was just last week Tuesday and we’re staying off it for a couple days at the doctors advice. 

On a related side note, Jade dunked yesterday. Admittedly foolish considering he wasn’t supposed to be doing any real activity on it until this week but he said it was worth it.

I will have a blog post shortly on what we’ve been doing in training and a more complete outlook on his progress but I’m waiting for his return from this latest PRP treatment and a news update on Jade from the local news station on PRP therapy. Thanks again to all who helped out.

Nice to hear….