‘MY INJURY NIGHTMARE’
Former East Geelong co-captain Earl Cody’s life was turned upside down when he suffered a freak injury during pre-season.
EAST Geelong footballer Earl Cody remains off work and unable to walk nearly four months after a horror pre-season training injury that could leave him with ongoing complications.
The 21-year-old, who cocaptained the Eagles last year, suffered a potentially careerending injury in the first training session after Christmas, tearing his anterior cruciate, lateral collateral and posterior crucial ligaments in his right knee when his fibula head “popped out”.
The bone also severed a nerve in his leg, which has left him with foot drop, a condition that leaves his foot limp and with limited control.
“Most people get it (the nerve) back but not completely back, so whether I can run again or not is a waiting game,” Cody told the Geelong Advertiser.
“At this point, it’s going to be two years before it grows back, if it does grow back.
“Footy in the short term is definitely off the cards, at least for another two years.”
Cody was 14 when he started playing footy at Newlyn in the Central Highland Football League and made his senior debut before his 18th birthday.
The chance to study zoology at university brought him to Geelong, however, and Cody quickly impressed at East Geelong.
Life was going swimmingly until the freak injury.
“It was just at footy training, the first one back after Christmas,” he said.
“I went to push off someone with the ball, as you do, and my fibula head popped out and as that was happening it hit all my ligaments.
“I’ve never had anything like that before; a rolled ankle is about as injured as I’ve been.
“I felt it go; I thought I’d been hit in the back of the head because my whole body just went a bit tingly, I thought someone had copped me with an elbow in the back of the head.
“Apparently a few people said my whole leg twisted around. It didn’t feel that kind of bad, and then I straightened it out and it popped back in.
“But it didn’t seem as bad as what it was.”
Shock clearly masked the immediate pain for Cody, who didn’t end up getting surgery on his knee until April.
University has now been put on hold, and Cody can’t even work part-time behind the bar at his local golf club.
“I’ve got basically a foot drop; (I severed) one of the nerves down my leg, so I can’t lift my foot up,” he said.
“It kind of just hangs, which is pretty annoying, and it’s pretty numb too; I’ve got numbness up my foot and halfway up my leg.
“I’m on crutches still; I’ve just started to put some weight on it, which is good.
“I’ve got a leg brace on and I think that will be on for another seven weeks. As far as walking freely goes, that’s up to the physio to decide when it’s strong enough to walk on. (It’s) probably another two months until I can walk again.”
As for footy, that’s on hold until the nerve in his leg grows back.
“I could potentially need surgery again if the nerve doesn’t regrow,” he said.
“It’s still up in the air whether it will come back or not. It sounds promising because the nerve is still intact, but it’s a waiting game. I’m doing tests in mid-July to see the extent of it a bit more.
“It’s hard to keep your spirits up when you’re sitting at home on the couch, not able to do anything. I’ve gone down and watched a few games, so it’s hard to watch that because I was always out there. To watch everyone else running around when you’re sitting on the boundary line with a bung knee is pretty hard.
“But I try to keep positive, there’s no point getting down when you’re sitting on the couch.”
East Geelong Football Club is hosting a “Do It For Earl” fundraiser on Saturday June 16 from 7.30pm.
More information can be found at the club’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/ eastgeelongfnc