“I thought I’d never be able to play again”

By Maureen Gilmer, Riley Children’s Health senior writer, mgilmer1@iuhealth.org

Scott and Denell Jacks were sitting in the living room of their Royal Center, Indiana, home on the evening of June 10, 2024, when they got a frantic call from their grandson, Blu.

He had rolled his six-wheeler, pinning his left foot underneath. Scott Jacks jumped into his truck, racing down the gravel road near their home, while Denell called 911. The closest hospital is in Logansport, 15 miles from their home.

“My husband said he ripped his foot off,” Denell said, adding that he told her he lifted the vehicle and pulled Blu free. “His foot was so mangled.”

Blu was airlifted to Riley Hospital for Children, while his grandparents, who adopted him as a baby, drove the hour and 45 minutes south to Indianapolis, arriving late in the evening.

“He had a devastating foot injury with a lot of soft tissue loss and nerve injuries,” plastic surgeon Dr. Josh Adkinson said. “He was initially managed by orthopedics, then we took a muscle from his back and transplanted it to his foot to cover up the exposed wound and the tendons, which took quite a while to heal.

“We also closed up a long laceration on the bottom of his foot and kept him in a fixator to elevate the foot to prevent any pressure on the wound while it heals. Eventually, he healed and got the skin graft on his foot.”

It was a long and painful journey back to good health, not just physically, but emotionally and mentally. And the proof that Blu was back – after an injury that could have left him unable to walk – played out literally on the football field at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Blu, now 16, rejoined his football team at Pioneer High School more than a year after the accident and helped bring them to the 1A state football championship game this past November. They lost that final game, but Blu, who will be a senior next school year, will tell you they still came out on top.

“It wasn’t the outcome we wanted, but it was a good experience for the guys to be able to make it that far,” he said. “And I thought I’d never be able to play again, so it’s nice to know I can.”

Stepping out onto the field at Lucas Oil was a dream come true, especially when there was a time that Blu didn’t even want to get out of bed.”

“I don’t know how to explain it,” the 6-foot-2-inch defensive lineman said. “It was cool, amazing. Hopefully, we’ll get there again.”

Blu was back at Riley Hospital with his grandparents last week to meet up with Dr. Adkinson, one of many people at Riley who helped put Blu back together again.

Sitting in the lobby of Simon Family Tower, Blu kicks his left shoe off and pulls down his sock a bit so Dr. Adkinson can see his handiwork, a year out from his last appointment with the surgeon.

“Everything’s working,” the teen said with a shy grin. “I feel like I walk and run the same.”

The foot is discolored due to the skin graft and flap that was created from a muscle removed from Blu’s back.

“It looks great,” Dr. Adkinson said, especially in light of the graphic photos he saw that reminded him of the boy’s injuries.

“It’s ugly, but it’s beautiful,” Blu’s grandmother added. “And it works.”

She was the one who cried at the kitchen table every day (never in front of Blu) as she worked up the courage to change Blu’s dressings at home after he was discharged from the hospital.

“I could see and feel his pain,” she added. “It was traumatizing.”

Blu spent a month in the burn unit at Riley, where the team’s expertise in dealing with complex wounds reassured Scott and Denell.

“We are so thankful for your hard work,” Denell said.

“And the communication was unbelievable,” her husband added. “You came in and told us exactly what was going to happen with surgery. To replace a tendon with a muscle – I don’t know much about either one, but it was mind-blowing.”

Dr. Adkinson was both grateful and stunned to receive an update from Blu’s family, as well as photos of him playing football more than a year later.

“It’s really touching that they even thought to send this to our office,” he said, adding that he and members of the plastic surgery, burn, orthopedics and other teams love to hear updates from families.

“I’m one small piece of a very large team. We have amazing nurses, and we work really closely with orthopedic surgery, including in this case with Dr. (Tyler) Christman and Dr. (Erika) Daley,” Dr. Adkinson said. “And I have an awesome team of nurses and nurse practitioners in the office who are the consistent point of contact with patients and families, making sure they are doing all the day-to-day stuff for healing.”

While the physical healing took time, the mental piece was even harder in some ways, Blu and his grandmother agreed.

“It was a pretty dark time in my life,” Blu said, recalling how he was confined to his bed or a wheelchair for months, at one point dealing with the external fixator forming a protective cage around his foot.

“That’s the hardest part,” Dr. Adkinson said. “You take a high-level athlete and stick him in a bed for three months, that’s really hard.”

But just like the book “The Little Engine That Could,” which was a favorite story of Blu’s as a child, the mantra “I think I can, I think I can” helped pull him up the hill.

His friends and teammates, some of whom have known him since they were toddlers, came alongside to push him through to brighter days. That’s when he got serious about school again, bringing his grades up to a level that he could rejoin his team again last fall.

It’s an accomplishment Dr. Adkinson acknowledges he wasn’t sure was possible.

“Most adults and kids who have an injury like this have a permanent disability,” he said, “whether it’s a limp or you’re dependent on crutches or a boot. I was shocked when I got that photo of you playing football. It blew my mind.”

Denell credits the miracle of medicine and faith, as well as hard-nosed determination for Blu’s recovery.

“It was mind over matter,” she said. “I didn’t let Blu see me cry. I was determined to do everything I could for him, but I’m just so proud of him and the way everybody helped us through it.”

Thanks to everyone involved, her grandson is back and hoping for a repeat trip to Lucas Oil this year.

“He came alive,” she said. “He got his life back.”

Photos submitted and by Mike Dickbernd, IU Health visual journalist, mdickbernd@iuhealth.org