After Rare Condition College Basketball Player Learns the Value of Team Effort

Lilliana Johnson came into this world as a team of three. A triplet with two brothers, she grew up in Brownstown, Michigan tackling a variety of sports including basketball, soccer, and cross country. In high school she focused her athletic efforts on the sport she loved most, playing basketball for her school while participating in travel basketball to increase her skill level.

Her love for basketball continued when she played at the collegiate level for the University of Michigan-Dearborn in the fall of 2021. Her accomplishments in college are noteworthy, including being named to the Wolverine–Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) All-Academic Team, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Scholar Athlete, and serving as the Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) President for the 24-25 academic year. Her nearly 4.0 grade point average is a great source of pride, especially given the challenges she faced; a rare and extremely painful condition that would require three years of balancing an injury, surgery, extensive physical therapy and battling mental health issues before the fog was lifted.

Freshman year brings new start and serious foot pain

About a month into her freshman season of basketball at UM-Dearborn, Lilliana began to experience extreme pain and weakness in her left foot and lower leg. It would be the beginning of progressive and unusual symptoms that left her sidelined just as she began her collegiate basketball experience.

“I missed the rest of the season, and we did not know exactly what was wrong at that time,” Lilliana explains. “When I attempted to return to play my sophomore year, the most extreme symptoms started to occur. My calf and shin began to feel like they were inflating like a balloon while being poked with sharp objects while simultaneously my foot went numb, and I lost the ability to move it while running and jumping.”

Henry Ford athletic trainers at UM-Dearborn get into action to discover source of pain

While the source of the pain was unclear, Lilliana felt some relief that she had an athletic training team in place at UM-Dearborn that would be with her every step of the way. Henry Ford Health Sports Medicine provides athletic trainers at many of the local high schools and universities, including UM-Dearborn, as well as providing care for the professional sports teams in Detroit to seamlessly manage pain and injuries for athletes of all ages and skill level.

Lilliana says when she first started feeling extreme symptoms her first conversation was with the athletic trainers who all agreed something was not right, but the challenge was knowing exactly what was wrong. She turned to Kelsey Rasky, who then served as athletic trainer at UM-Dearborn and currently serves as supervisor of athletic training for Henry Ford Health.

“Kelsey was the first person who suspected I had chronic exertional compartment syndrome (CECS) and a foot drop,” Lilliana recalls. CECS occurs when an injury or repeated stress causes swelling and bleeding inside a muscle compartment leading to pain, numbness and possibly foot drop, a nerve injury that makes it difficult to lift the front of the foot.

Kelsey explains given that Lilliana’s injury was not cut and dry, she had to think outside the box.

“As I was brainstorming, I encountered a visiting team athlete who had experienced CECS, and I followed up with Dr. Robert Albers, sports medicine physician at Henry Ford Health. As this condition is not common and often misdiagnosed, we came up with a plan for testing,” Kelsey said.

After seeing Dr. Albers, who agreed with Kelsey’s suspicions and several other Henry Ford Health clinicians, specialized testing involving a compartment pressure test that measures the pressure inside a muscle compartment confirmed exertional compartment syndrome in all 4 compartments of her lower left leg and foot drop.

Next steps after CECS diagnosis involves two surgeries

Lilliana expressed that it was difficult to learn about the seriousness of the diagnosis and that surgery would be the best option for long term relief. After much thought, in December, 2022, she proceeded with two surgeries performed by Erik Eller, MD, Henry Ford Health orthopedic surgeon, that aimed at fixing her left foot and lower leg.

After a long recovery, fog is lifted and hope returns her senior year

Lilliana explains the recovery was challenging requiring additional specialists and months of therapy. Perhaps the most challenging part was not knowing if the treatment would work and how long it would take.

“For a long time, it felt like the world was crashing down and I would never get back to normal life-let alone a sport at the collegiate level,” says Lilliana. “However, like many things in life, the fog clears up.”

The value of teamwork on the playing field and in her journey to recovery

Lilliana emphasizes that as an athlete, when and if a serious injury occurs, the athletic trainers play a crucial role in the teamwork needed to help in every stage of the injury process.

“What makes athletic trainers like Kelsey Rasky so special is how they play a part in our journey from the very beginning until the very end,” Lilliana emphasizes. “Kelsey was the first face I saw after my diagnosis and even the first face I saw on some of my worst days. Athletic Trainers are also the first people to hug you when your season just ended and the first person to make you feel safe in that exact moment.”

She adds that after several months of working with sports medicine specialists at the Henry Ford Detroit Pistons Performance Center, including Dave Tomsich and Kristin Levin and Henry Ford Health athletic trainers Kelsey Rasky, Jeff Board, and Shingo Matsubara at UM-Dearborn, she began to see light again.

“Kristin and I saw Lilliana in physical therapy for a long time,” explains Dave who serves as director of Sports Rehab for the Henry Ford Health Center for Athletic Medicine-Pistons Performance Center Physical Therapy. “She experienced some ups and downs during her rehab which was expected, but she worked extremely hard and persevered, which is why she is where she is today. Her “grit” got her back to basketball!”

Lilliana expresses she learned the value of a team during her darkest times.

“I’ve learned that it truly does take a village, and these people are a part of my village that got me back on my feet again. They essentially made a miracle happen. I get to play my senior year.”

Big plans for the future

With a wealth of experience overcoming adversity with her sports injuries, Lilliana hopes to use that wisdom to help other athletes who need a great team with many skills to help when things don’t go as planned.

“After graduation, I plan to pursue a master’s degree while being a graduate assistant in an Athletic Department. After that, I hope to pursue a career in athletics administration - a role where I can leverage my experiences to help other student-athletes experiencing difficult injuries”.

Lilliana emphasizes that when it comes to lessons learned sometimes you can’t see the light until you’re in the dark.

“No matter how much you may not agree with the lessons you have to learn, they have to be taught, so keep looking at every moment of adversity as a gift, overcome it, and become something special because of it.”