Darren Cooper, NorthJersey.com
This is not a promising-female-athlete-tears-ACL story.
This is Sam Russo’s story. It’s a story of determination and perseverance. It’s about a fall − two falls, actually − and a parent’s worst nightmare.
It’s about a bone with a hole where it shouldn’t be, a trainer who kept fighting and a miraculous return to competition.
“I don’t know, it’s kind of … I have always been doing sports,” Russo said, searching for words to describe why she wanted to play again. “That was always the place where I felt free.”
Russo, a junior at Hasbrouck Heights, now has a small rod inserted in her right femur and a nasty scar along her right knee. They are reminders of her ordeal, the two falls and two surgeries that changed her life.
“It’s a miracle really that she is able to participate,” Sam’s mother, Nicole, said. “The whole experience has been life altering. We have been blessed to have a lot of people supporting us.”
“She is tough, resilient and a bionic woman,” Sam’s trainer, Dr. Vince Burke, said.
Now, running, jumping and throwing, Sam feels not quite whole yet, but definitely free.
Sports are in her blood
Sam Russo stands six feet tall with long, curly hair
“I was always the tallest one in my class,” she said with a sigh. “I used to hate it, but now I embrace it.”
With that type of size, plus the fact that her mother was a two-sport athlete in college, Russo was destined to play sports, lots of them.
“I basically played, like, everything growing up,” she said. “I tried soccer, softball, gymnastics. I didn’t do track or volleyball. Well, I did do track for a little while.”
When she got to Hasbrouck Heights, Russo decided to drop soccer in favor of volleyball. Hey, that’s what tall girls do. She instantly started for the Aviators basketball team and became one of the best freshmen throwers for the Aviators champion track team.
The future looked bright.
Two falls of Sam Russo
Every athlete seems to remember in vivid detail how it happens. They hear the ominous “pop” in their knee or ankle, a sign that their sports career is about to change.
For Russo, the date was March 1, 2022. The Aviators were hosting Cresskill in a state tournament playoff game. She remembers the big crowd, the excitement.
By then, her right knee was already bothering her. Her family had been told she may need a procedure to help clean it up, as they say in medical terms. It had been diagnosed as patella tendonitis, but there were cartilage issues too.
But Russo wasn’t thinking about any of that. This was Cresskill, a rival, a big game, a time to feel free.
Then she fell. Twice.
“I fell by the doors going for a rebound and it was weird, but I didn’t think there was anything wrong,” she said. “The second time, I went up for a shot, I missed and my feet flew out from under me and I was like, I definitely don’t feel right.”
Mothers always know.
“I knew it the minute she fell,” Nicole Russo said. “I knew it was bad. I knew in that moment it wasn’t going to be the same.”
Sam went to the halftime locker room and tried to play again when the game resumed, but she couldn’t move. She tearfully returned to the bench.
Figuring out what went wrong
The diagnosis seemed straight forward. Russo had torn her meniscus (her ACLs were completely fine). Doctors could repair that, clean up the messy cartilage and she could get back to playing again.
Not so fast.
During surgery on March 11, doctors found an issue at the bottom of Russo’s femur. When she tore her meniscus − maybe in the second fall? − a chunk of the bone sliced off.
It’s called an osteochondral lesion. In layman’s terms, a ‘crater’ or hole.
“When they went and did the meniscus, it was done arthroscopically and they saw how bad the lesion had gotten,” Sam said. “He said this is the worst case of this I have ever seen. I am going to have to send you to a specialist.”
Two falls. Now it meant two surgeries.
Doctors aren’t so quick to open up a leg that was just operated on. Plus, they realized that Russo’s alignment was off. They needed to lengthen her right leg and find a cadaver bone to fix the femur’s tip. The next surgery would be extensive.
“I didn’t sleep for weeks,” Nicole said. “Doctors wouldn’t look at her for six months. I found a doctor who could do the cadaver bone, but he said it would take time to find a match. They referred me to NYU, which is a teaching hospital so gets more access to cadaver bones, and we went there.”
The comeback
The second surgery took place in May. By then, Sam was already sick of crutches and having to live down in the basement, but she had to do it.
She began working with Burke at Infinity Rehab and Sports Medicine in Rochelle Park. They wanted to do pre-hab before the surgery, then start with an aggressive rehab routine.
“When Sam came to see me, I saw tears and heard ‘atheltic depression’,” Burke said. “After my examination, she – like most others – asked me ‘can I ever play again?’ I told her ‘let’s learn how to walk again and focus on what works and what you can do and let the injury heal.’ I assured her if she gave 100 percent, so would I.”
She blew that all out of the water, suiting up for the Aviators’ final 10 basketball games and rejoining the track team this spring.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Nicole said. “I didn’t think she’d ever see it again, it was awesome to see her diving on the floor. Every time she fell, ahh, but she just went after it. I am just really proud of her.”
The rise after the fall
Sam gives Burke a ton of credit for getting her back to action. The whole experience has changed her mindset.
“At times, the tears of doubt and burnout came, but with the positive rehab approach, our medical team, her doctors, her teammates all made her recovery outstanding,” Burke said. “She was laser-focused and really believed in herself trusting the process and showing a fearless approach with no limits.”
While it was never overtly expressed, it’s clear Sam had her eyes on playing a sport (or two) in college. Now she’s not so sure. It’s not that she doesn’t love sports, it’s that she is now interested in studying physical therapy and helping others get back on the field.
“It was traumatic, there is no other word for it,” Nicole said. “The first surgery not so much, the second one was awful. It was isolating and painful. There are still things she won’t do that remind her of that time.”
Sam now runs, jumps and throws without a knee brace or a limp. She wants to try everything in track and get back to volleyball and basketball.
Each game, each practice is a chance to feel free again.
