Imagine that your son has already secured a spot on a collegiate gymnastics team and is ready to finish his high school career, with nationals being his end goal. With high energy and excitement, your son is all set for his first event of the first competition. He goes up on the vault, something he has done many times before, and lands. But something is wrong.

With Eric being a gymnast it can be very physical, and injuries can happen so, he and his mother Mandy, have been to OSMS a couple times. The first time they came to OSMS was when Eric broke his wrist. After that, they came back in for a broken thumb. Finally, they came back a third time for a broken leg.

“He was super excited to kick off his senior year and do some big things. It was the first meet of the season, and he was pumped and ready to go. He gets ready to go and do his actual vault, and he takes off, but he just hit the springboard a little bit off, and he landed short, falling to the floor,” Mandy describes.

Eric dislocated his ankle and broke both bones in his lower leg, snapping them completely while landing his vault.

“I was so in the zone to see how he was doing,” Mandy cries. “He asked if he was okay and if he could get up, and I just responded with nope kid, you can’t get up.”

Eric started gymnastics when he was only seven years old. Now, after facing this injury at 17 years old, Mandy was questioning whether this was it, and if he would have to be done with gymnastics.

Mandy states, “He wanted to go four more years. That was so important to him and in the moment, we’re thinking you’re probably done and that was heart breaking”.

Mandy and Eric were pleasantly surprised on his road to recovery. They thought this injury was traumatic, but the doctor reassured them that this was not going to be the end of Eric’s career; OSMS would get Eric back.

Eric ended up making it to nationals on pommel horse and parallel bars.

“Start to finish from the first injury that he had, which was minor, to his big one, it didn’t matter the magnitude of injury. OSMS got us in quick, they took care of us, they answered all our questions,” Mandy explains. “As a mom, you worry about things that kids don’t necessarily worry about. Like wound care. OSMS was quick to get on a phone call with me if I had questions or would get me in for a follow up appointment if something didn’t feel right. I would go back in a minute”.

Thanks to OSMS, Mandy’s son Eric is back.