COMEBACK KID
Paige Snell rebounds from intricate back surgery to help spark Haverford
HAVERFORD » For Paige Snell and Haverford High, the girls soccer season ended abruptly without another storybook run through the playoffs.
There would be no upset of any top seed, just the grim reality that when District 1 chooses its Class 4A playoff field, you are what your record is. The Fords narrowly missed making it two straight trips to the postseason.
Difficult as that was, it didn’t compare to the personal obstacles Snell overcame to return to the field for the season. In so many very personal ways, the season became a victory lap for Paige and her sister Devin.
It began a few years after a seventh-grade physical for Paige led to an examination by an orthopedic surgeon who found a significant curvature in her spine. The curve increased over the years despite nonsurgical treatments, including bracing, and surgery was recommended. At that point nothing seemed less comfortable than wearing a corset-tight brace 20 hours a day, which was tough for Snell.
“I definitely did have back pain,” Snell said. “And it was getting worse as I was getting closer to the surgery.”
Spinal fusion surgery isn’t new. But it can be as dangerous as it sounds. The list of potential complications is extensive.
For Snell to live the life she desired the decision was made to have it done early in her freshman year at Haverford, in Nov. 2018. The procedure was involved. Two titanium rods and 20 screws would be necessary to straighten the spine that curved from 20 to almost 60 degrees. Snell’s mother, Kim, was told the operation had to be done because the scoliosis was increasing at a rate that could affect internal organs, including the lungs.
There was one complication. Snell was starting at midfield and defense along with her older sister Devin on the Haverford varsity soccer team that was having a season for the ages. She didn’t want to let teammates down. The Fords beat Upper Dublin in the first round of the District 1 Class 4A playoffs and upset top-seeded Owen J. Roberts, 1-0, in the second round.
“At that point we didn’t know how far they would go in the playoffs,” Snell’s mother Kim said. “It was such an exciting season for the team. Part of me was like, should we reschedule this? I was having all kinds of thoughts.”
When the season ended with a close loss to eventual state champion Souderton, Paige’s surgery became the family’s mission, and for good reason. A potential seven-hour operation obviously isn’t without risk, even with Dr. John Flynn, a noted scoliosis surgeon.
“We were lucky that we were seeing such a wonderful surgeon,” Snell’s mother said. “And he was great from the beginning explaining everything to us. So, from that part I felt comfortable. The other part was I knew Paige was this great soccer player and I didn’t want to do anything to hurt that but yet we knew we had to correct her because as she got older, it would just get worse. They told us the operation would be safe but with any surgery there could always be complications. It was still very, very scary.”
The Snells gathered for the operation at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia; Kim, husband Jim, older daughters Madison and
Devin and son Jake, the youngest. There were constant updates during the five-hour procedure.
Paige Snell’s goal was to resume soccer after recovery from the fusion surgery. She was the only one thinking about a comeback or being cleared to play sports in roughly six months. Older sister Devin just wanted her to feel better.
“My mom kept telling me it was a huge surgery leading up to it,” Devin Snell said. “But I didn’t know how big it was until we were at the hospital. Seeing her in so much pain, it hit me how big of a deal it really was. One day, we were there and I think with my grandma, all six of us were in the room. And Paige was just in so much pain, like every time she moved. We were trying to help her, giving her pillows, positioning them. It was hard to watch.”
Four days after checking into the hospital, Paige Snell went home. There would be no school or classes until January, just tutors from the Haverford School District every other day or so to help her keep up to speed as much as possible.
Snell was a good patient. She also was a teenager. Just days after the surgery she vowed to attend the Haverford homecoming dance.
“My mom kept telling me it was a huge surgery leading up to it. But I didn’t know how big it was until we were at the hospital. Seeing her in so much pain, it hit me how big of a deal it really was.”
— Devin Snell
••• Snell said she planned to go to the dance before the surgery, not knowing how much pain she would be in. It would mean something for her to dress up, be with friends and “just get there and take pictures.”
Snell’s mother cleared it with the surgeon. The real rehab, the will to get better, had begun.
“Getting ready (for the dance) was brutal,” Paige Snell said. “It took me like hours to get ready. I wasn’t able to dance but I just wanted to have pictures, and I wanted to see my friends for the first time.”
Devin didn’t realize how much the dance meant to her sister until it was time to put the dress on.
“I was zipping up her dress and she had a huge scar on her back,” Devin said. “So, she’s basically crying while we’re trying to get this dress on. It was a lot. It was so stressful for her. But it was so great to see her able to go out. It was so worth it. It was awesome to see. Especially because it was the week of the surgery.”
From that point forward, Kim Snell knew her daughter wouldn’t be denied.
“I think it just helped her having that goal,” Snell said. “Even though she couldn’t physically walk into that dance because she was exhausted and it was too painful, she tried. When we drove home, I said, ‘Paige I’m so proud of you.’”
• • •
The dance was the first step in Paige’s comeback, a rehab unlike the road back from a knee or ankle injury. She walked, jogged and exercised, basically whatever she felt up to doing, up to the day last May when she was cleared for contact sports. She needed to know if she could still play soccer at a district playoffs level.
At this point Snell’s big sister felt protective, not confident.
“Yeah, yeah, I was scared,” Devin said. “I would never have said it to her, but I was scared that the next year or the years after that it would affect her. But it didn’t.”
Paige Snell got a rousing ovation showing up for a game with her Haverford Soccer Club team almost the moment she was cleared. She got an assist working into action in the second half. The following game she scored a goal. She was heading the ball again, something other girls tend to avoid. She felt part of it all again.
“Seeing them really clapping and everything when I walked up, it was really fun,” she said. “It was great to be out there. I was still able to move around. I’ve gotten a lot more flexibility back, but there’s some stuff I can’t do. I can’t arch my back. It took me a little bit to do crunches and sit-ups and pushups but before I knew I was able to do (them) again. But no more back bends, bridges.”
Devin Snell thinks Paige plays better than she was before the surgery.
“It’s crazy,” Devin said. “This varsity season starts and she’s like starting every single game with me. She really holds it down for us on the field. She’s a huge part of the team. When she comes out of the games you would see a difference completely in like, just pace and everything.”
• • • Fords coach Jeffrey Jackson isn’t easily impressed. Not even after the team’s march deep into the districts last year.
But Paige Snell’s comeback, that was impressive.
“I was optimistic that she’d be able to make it back, but you never know,” Jackson said. “I saw her in school the way she was making up all the schoolwork, like putting in all that extra time. And I was like, I know she’s going to do the same thing with getting her body ready to play soccer again. It was great to get the updates from her like, ‘Hey, I’m cleared to do this. Hey, I’m cleared to do this.’ Those were the steppingstones that she had to take to get cleared for full contact and games. That’s very impressive.”
The Fords recently completed an 8-10 season. After a 3-1 start with victories over Central League foes Garnet Valley and Upper Darby, the Fords lost eight matches in a row. A three-game win streak late in the season offered hope. A three-game losing streak dashed their chances to return to the districts.
Without both Snells, the Fords would have been in deeper trouble. It’s hardly a coincidence the players rallied after the rough start. Jackson suspects Paige’s love for soccer, her No. 1 sport, amplified the work and passion she put into working through the surgery.
“She’s an important starter for us and her sister played on the team as well,” Jackson said. “And she’s great at it. It’s fun to do stuff you’re good at. I think that motivated her. It’s just kind of amazing that she came back this year and made the improvement that you would have expected someone to make who had been training all of the offseason. She had the surgery, she had all this extra work to do and she picked up right where she left off and then some.”
Haverford’s last game of the season was against Lower Merion. It was Senior Night, and the district playoff seeding process was still fluid. The Snell sisters were introduced with the starting lineup, one after the other. In the sea of bodies composing a corner kick, Paige Snell put herself in the middle of it and wound up on the ground, all eyes on her. AG Cornog Stadium became quiet.
“I fell on my back hard and I just felt like a sharp pain,” she said. “But it’s definitely not from the surgery. It happened a couple times this season.”
Paige survived the fall. Jackson was there with spectators, applauding her latest rise, her will to go on.
“This sport is not for the feint of heart,” Jackson said. “She stuck her nose into a lot of difficult situations this year and came out great. A couple times you see her get up a little slower and you think back to the operation. Each time she was able to bounce back but you’re never sure. It’s definitely in my mind. But I don’t think it’s in her mind.”
• • •
Paige Snell’s comeback left the family with several poignant, almost indescribable feelings. Surrounded by family after the operation, she was drifting in and out of consciousness as the anesthesia wore off.
“She was all woozy coming out of it and she kept telling my parents, ‘I’m going to vote for Devin to be captain, I’m going to vote for her,’” Devin said. “I was a junior on the varsity and usually the seniors are the captains. Well, I wound up being a captain. She had soccer on her mind even then.”
No one knows Paige better than Devin, who in turn never will know how much more comfortable her mother slept knowing big sister was there.
“Devin was just always watching out for her,” the girls’ mother said. “She was always being the big, tough, caring sister. I knew when Paige would leave with Devin, everything would be fine. Devin would be looking out for her. That made it so much easier for me.”
Devin goes off to college next year, leaving behind a younger sister who will miss her.
“She showed me the way,” Paige said. “Hopefully she’ll come to some of our games if she can.”
Devin Snell promised to return for the next chapter of her sister’s comeback. Especially with the Fords working in a talented freshman class.
The Snells aren’t going to miss the extensive follow-up visits with doctors and the surgeon, although it left them grateful and feeling compassion for the patients who weren’t going home.
“I knew that I was going to be able to play again,” Paige Snell said. “There are people that have it much worse than I do.”