Sports can be a great simulation of life; anything can happen and it could be over just like that. For Dylan McHugh, this meant a single play changed his life forever.
Dylan is a junior on the Ursinus College football team, and a starter on the offensive line. The team was off to a hot start to the season going into their game against a conference opponent in Muhlenberg on October 4th. It was a very important game that everyone on the team was excited about. “It was a huge game, I was really looking forward to playing in this game because of how much was on the line,” Dylan says. Dylan knew it was going to be a war. But when it comes to war, there can be some unfortunate and shocking casualties.
Right before the halfway point of the game, the Bears were driving down the field to once again even the score of what was a back-and-forth game at the time. Dylan was confident that the offense would succeed in the onslaught they were putting on the Mules. But a play they had been running all game was called from the sideline, and it was the first domino to fall in a chaotic next few moments. “It still is a little hazy to me about what happened, but I remember getting rolled up on from behind and feeling a snap, crackle and pop in my leg.” Dylan knew from the moment he fell to the turf that his season was most likely over. Dylan had broken his fibula and torn almost every ligament in his ankle. I asked Dylan his first thoughts when he was told about his injuries and his outlook was understandable. “I’ll be honest, I was really hurt and shocked. It just made me think that you can’t take stuff for granted because it can be gone just like that.”
Dylan would have surgery a few weeks later and be put in a boot so he could get one step further down the road to recovery. In between, Dylan said that he had been sitting at home, taking care of his leg and playing Call of Duty all day. “I can’t really do much right now since I still can’t put weight on it” he said then, “but every day I feel like I’m getting better.”
Though the injury is physical, that is only half the battle Dylan has to face on this journey. Dylan talked about the effect this injury has had on his mental health and how dealing with this injury had taken a toll. “In the beginning, it was really hard mentally. My depression was going crazy, feeling useless and not being able to do anything about it.” Dylan then went onto explain what has helped him through these mental hardships and how the people around him have been his greatest motivators. “My friends and family have been the wind beneath my wings throughout all of this and without them this definitely would have broken me. Getting calls from my teammates, my mom helping in whatever way she can has been great.” I talked to one of Dylan’s teammates on the football team, Deane Leader, who explained that this is just what teammates do. “We love Dylan, he’s our brother. There is nothing in this world we wouldn’t do if it meant helping him. He would do it for us in a heartbeat and so we try our best to help him in any way we can.”
Though this road Dylan is on might be long and he doesn’t know exactly where it will lead, he knows he doesn’t have to go it alone. “I’ve adopted the mindset to just keep moving forward. I might take a step back here and there, but as long as I keep moving forward, I know I will be back.” That forward motion recently brought him back to campus, where you can see him getting around on crutches. No matter where this journey takes him, I know that I’ll be right behind him, supporting and cheering him on the whole way.