Had her family not acted immediately, Oglethorpe County graduate Anna Adams probably wouldn't be here today.
Just over one year ago, as a junior, Anna was playing goalkeeper at a University of North Georgia camp when she was severely injured.
Anna had the ball in possession and was working to get it out of goal before the other team could score when an opponent charged her, probably attempting to prove aggressiveness to the college coaches on site, her dad Brandon Adams speculated.
Things went sideways when they collided, the opponent's knee to Anna's abdomen. She collapsed to the turf, attempting to get up and keep going but quickly finding herself unable.
"There was some sort of spirit or angel there looking over me that day," Anna said.
They thought it was an injured rib, they hoped at least, as the coaches, trainers and Brandon all took the field to assess the distress. This was where her life hung in the balance, and they made the choice to speed to the nearest emergency room, saving their daughter in the process.
One ultrasound later confirmed this was a lot worse than an injured rib.
Anna had lacerated her kidney. Stents and drains were put in as the family spent two weeks in the ICU in Gainesville, worrying and praying.
"I remember I had two of my co-workers come visit and we had a good time, but then I crashed," Anna said. "My mom works as a vet and what happens with animals that are going to die, is they have a really good day and then a really bad one. Everyone around me was convinced I was dying."
Things unfortunately didn't get better after that as Anna tried to resume her normal life, attending classes at Oglethorpe and UNG as part of her dual enrollment. Brandon said you'd have thought she was an old woman, the way she was hunched over in pain at all hours of the day.
Her injured kidney began to miscommunicate — the lower part wasn't in sync with the upper part, causing unbearable irritation for the 16-year-old. Her spine had actually curved quite a bit to compensate and accommodate the pain.
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The drains had to be reinserted, which was disappointing news to the family, especially Anna — she remembers it feeling like a hammer and nail being driven into her muscle as they did the procedure, despite being given local anesthesia.
"After that, her doctor in Gainesville basically said that he felt like he had taken everything pretty much as far as he could go with it," Brandon said. "We then got a recommendation for a doctor that specializes in pediatric medicine and is one of the U.S.'s leading doctors dealing with kidney injuries. ... This was his specialty and we got good news the first of June in 2023.
"He felt that she would be able to play again."
Progress had a way to go before she hit that mark, though. After the drains were removed again, infection struck. They were back in the hospital, this time the Children's Hospital of Atlanta, for another five to six days. She was on antibiotics as they tested everything to see where this infection had come from and she remembers dancing to music and laughing with the radiology team assigned to her case.
In August of 2023, they had one more test done. Brandon recalled the doctor coming back after 15 minutes and giving them the best news they could ask for at that time: Everything's out. All of the tubes and drains were removed, the infection had healed.
In February of this year, they got the approval that things were working the way they were supposed to. Brandon said the doctor left Anna with one sentence of strict advice as she prepared to take the field for her senior season in the red and blue: "If you see somebody being an idiot and charging at you, get out of the way."
Anna worked hard to get back into soccer shape and secured herself a slot at Truett McConnell University to continue her career.
"I never thought I was done (with soccer)," Anna said. "I'm a stubborn and hard-headed woman. When I want something, I will normally get it. The day we were rushed to the emergency room, and they found out my kidney was lacerated, the very next morning, the doctor came in to visit and (brief us). He said, 'Do you want to play soccer again?' and I said, 'Yeah.' and he said, 'Alright, then you better get better.' From then on out, anytime anyone asked if I was going to play again it was a yes, no questions asked."
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She's going to study anesthesiology, which was never the plan until she got injured — she hates needles, blood, the works. Now, she has hopes to one day become an anesthesiologist's assistant and help people the same way those assistants helped her at her lowest. They gave her comfort in the dark and she wants to pass that down.
To this day, she still has no idea who the opponent that caused her this turmoil is.
"But I hold no resentment, to be honest," Anna said. "I used to hate her, because she gave me the tubes and all that sort of stuff, and I wish I could have found out who she was. ... Nothing happened to her. But at this point in time, I wouldn't trade anything I went through. It's made me who I am, it's made me a better person and I am happier. ... I've opened my mind and seen the bigger picture. ... I wish to never go back in time and change it. I don't feel jealous or angry or anything like that over the time that I lost in the hospital. I'm just grateful I was able to get back out there."
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