‘He woke up the next morning screaming in pain’

Young golfer makes strong recovery after staph infection in hip leads to scary month

Being on a beautiful golf layout under wonderful sunny skies while competing in the Ottawa Sun Scramble’s Kevin Haime U13 Junior Division Friday at GreyHawk’s Talon course was a big deal for Wynston Henderson.

A bit more than a month ago, the nine-year-old was at CHEO, lying in bed in horrible pain while his parents privately wondered about worst-case scenarios as their young son suffered from a staph infection in his hip.

On a day where some of the best golfers in the city were putting up low scores in different divisions at the Sun Scramble, Wynston, with a minor limp in his left leg, and his older brother Hudson walked the Talon course, swinging golf clubs. It’s a pretty remarkable story. One that began July 16. Explained Wynston’s dad Matt: “He woke up that morning in agonizing pain. That night, he had a hockey practice — I’m kind of a hockey crazy dad, I said, ‘Let’s go skate it off.’ There were no markings, there was no bruise, nothing bulging. We were going to go to practise in Chelsea. I was like, ‘They take temperatures there, let’s just make sure we’re OK.’”

Turns out Wynston had a temperature.

“He woke up the next morning screaming in pain,” Matt said. “We went to CHEO. I stayed in the car while my wife went in (because of COVID restrictions). She came out two hours later and said, ‘Yeah, we’re going to be here for a while.’ We figured maybe he’d get some antibiotics and he’d clear up. Two weeks later, we were still there.

“There was 36 hours where we weren’t hearing anything, you’re wondering, ‘Is he going to die?’ The pain he was in, you’re wondering if it moves into his hip, can it move to his heart, can it move to his head? It was awful.

“For the first two or three days, you’re running on adrenalin. Then you’re exhausted and you’re struggling, but trying to be positive for him.

“A month ago, he took his first step. He’s a pretty good little athlete, but to have that feeling — Oh my God, that’s amazing. Then he was able to step on a block, then he was able to do two stairs, then it was four stairs. That was per day.”

It’s one of those things. Kid gets an infection, a common one. But you don’t know what caused it, you don’t know what the end result will be. But there’s a happy ending with this one.

“The doctors were fantastic,” said Matt. “They cleaned out the infection twice. One doctor said (Wynston) would be up and going in five or six weeks; the other said it could be one to three months. We have a great friend who’s a doctor and she prepared us for it. She told us we were in for a rough ride. Once the pain was under control, he could reset and begin the recovery process. Five weeks ago, he couldn’t walk. A week ago, he started playing baseball. Wednesday, his grandmother took him out to hit golf balls. Thursday, he skated. It’s mostly mental now. He didn’t have confidence to do those things. But he’s done it.”

The support coming from all places was much appreciated by Matt and his wife Shannon.

“All the negativity you hear, the hockey community is amazing,” said Matt. “My other son’s team prepared meals every day for us so the kids had food to eat. We had friends step up. It’s amazing how sports brings people together.”

And it gave the Hendersons new perspective. “Some of the stuff you see (at the hospital) is heartbreaking,” Matt said. “This really puts things in perspective when your kid is there for two weeks and some kids are there for years.” tbaines@postmedia.com