L’Anse Creuse North player’s profile in courage
A volleyball team’s setter does not get a chance to loiter.
She is the signal caller. She is the Elmer’s glue. She has to possess tremendous court awareness. She keeps everyone focused and settled.
Emily Langlois was the senior setter on a very fine volleyball team at L’Anse Creuse North this past season
Coach Denise Sargent’s Crusaders won their first district championship in 14 years. They captured LCN’s first-ever regional title.
“When Emily was a freshman, she went out for volleyball. The coach said she might never play varsity volleyball. She did not take the game seriously,” recalled her father, Steve Langlois.
Challenge accepted. Emily Langlois responded in a hurry.
It was just the first hurdle placed in her way.
The most serious loomed in September. It culminated with brain surgery in mid-April.
When a doctor tried to have her hospitalized during the Crusaders’ regular-season campaign, Langlois refused his medical advice.
“We play Fraser tomorrow night,” she said simply.
But it was never that simple. Emily Langlois was diagnosed with Cortical Dysplasia, a condition that occurs in the embryo state where a group of brain cells settle in the wrong place in one’s brain. The only symptoms of this condition are seizures and they
typically don’t present until the teen years.
From September to December, she was having episodes multiple times per day. Medication was largely ineffective.
“My wife and I were completely blindsided when one day Emily started talking like a 5-year-old. After a few minutes, she returned to normal. After some doctor visits she was finally diagnosed with Cortical Dysplasia,” said Steve Langlois. “From September to December she was having four to five episodes a day.”
One minute, Emily Langlois was laser focused, directing traffic as the team’s setter. The next, if she was having a seizure, she was in a daze.
“In September, one day at practice, we were doing a drill that the coaches always have us do. I woke up in a room with three people in front of me. I had no recollection of what had happened. That was the first time I ever lost my memory,” said Emily Langlois.
It would hardly be the last. Once the condition
was diagnosed, coaches and teammates would watch Emily Langlois closely during matches, trying to spot the telltale signs.
Coach Sargent defined those seizures.
“Emily kind of went into dazes. When you would talk to her she would not be her typical self. She would be confused,” said the LCN coach.
When those seizures did occur, the Crusaders would get Emily out of the match. She would go to the car, the trainer’s room or wherever and sleep for 10 minutes or so.
When she woke up, Emily Langlois was good to go.
Emily Langlois cleared up that confusion about her condition one day at practice.
“Emily told all of her teammates what was going on. She told them what might happen. They all stepped up. The team was a real family. Emily got tremendous support from the coaches and teammates. A couple of weeks ago, Sarge (Denise Sargent) came over with Emily’s favorite breakfast,” said Steve Langlois.
Here’s something else to digest when talking about high school sports and their importance in the lives of so
many. Real teams are way more than identical uniforms.
Emily Langlois was ailing. Her parents, coaches and teammates stepped up. She was scheduled for brain surgery in Ann Arbor in mid-April. The day before, a parade of more than 30 cars drove by her house in a show of support.
Even as Emily was in the hospital getting set for surgery, she could not stop thinking about her senior volleyball season.
“Playing volleyball at L’Anse Creuse North was an amazing experience,” she said. “Those were nights I will remember for the rest of my life. One of the best came the night we beat Anchor Bay for the district championship. We were the MAC White champions and they were the MAC Red champions. It was a great, great night.”
The surgery was a success. Emily Langlois is back working out, getting ready for her upcoming role on the team at Concordia University in Ann Arbor.
She was a Crusader. She will be a Cardinal. Hers is an amazing story. Of courage, perseverance and dedication. And, of what real teams are all about.