In February of 2008, Sarah Keddington went under.
For nearly six hours, the Corona del Mar High senior lay on a hospital bed as doctors cut into her back, trying to repair the damage. Her spine had been taken over by scoliosis and all that was left was an S-curve and nightmares that a promising running career could be over.
But Keddington never wanted it to end. As a sophomore she wanted to return to the track and somehow to the cross country course.
“I think the easy way out would’ve been just to give up, but I didn’t want to take the easy way,” said Keddington, a runner on the CdM girls’ cross country team that will compete in the CIF State Championships Saturday at Fresno’s Woodward Park.
The Sea Kings, who finished second in the CIF Southern Section Division III race last week, are contenders to win the state crown, but will be hard-pressed to surpass Orange Lutheran. Keddington will be there to defy the odds anyway. That’s what she’s wanted to do since that day she became stunned when a doctor told her about the ‘S.’
In August of 2007 before her sophomore year, Keddington went to a routine physical exam as required for athletics. The doctor discovered her spine was shaped like an ‘S’ and advised her to see a back specialist.
What came next was doctor after doctor. There was also constant research of scoliosis, a curving of the spine — in Keddington’s case, away from the middle of her back. The pictures from the X-rays struck fear into her family and the thought of surgery caused each to brace for the results.
With her back cut open, the surgeons stripped away the muscles so they could align the spine. Screws were drilled into her vertebrae, as two titanium rods, each about eight inches long, were inserted to keep it all straight.
The path to the track, the distance to the cross country course, seemed so far away. Keddington was under. Not just sedated, but below, down.
Before the surgery could end, the doctors had to place the muscles in their original spot and carefully return each nerve appropriately. Recovery included four nights in intensive care.
Even when it all seemed so painful, she still had that thought of a comeback.
“I learned to never give up,” she said. “That if you put your mind to something and you really believe that you can do it and work hard for it that anything is possible.
