As we all envied Matt Drinkwater (‘14)  for his ability to drive through the halls at rabbit speed, allegedly giving students rides to their classes and causing traffic jams in the hallway, the purpose behind the scooter isn’t one that most of us would be willing to go through. What the majority of us don’t know is exactly why and how he was put in his electric mobility scooter.

In 2005, Matt lived in Hawaii, where he was on na ice hockey team. Not your typical sport on the big island, but Drinkwater loved playing and his love for the sport was the cause of his long-term injury.

Hockey is a sport where players accept the fact that they are going to get hurt. Speeding down the ice, plowing into the other team at full speed just to get the puck back in your possession is worth all the bloody noses and cracked ribs to hockey players. ”I got checked at least 5 times in one game- you kind of get used to it after a while.”

During a game 9 years ago, Drinkwater checked one of his opponents, who then retaliated with a low check to his knee, causing him to fall to the ice. He shrugged it off, as most hockey players are taught to do, and jumped right back in the game. Little did he know that his knee was in no condition to be skating.

In 2007, Drinkwater moved to Virginia with his family. He noticed the increasing pain in his knee, but ignored it. “One time I noticed that my knee hurt a lot more than it usually did. I just ignored it though and forgot about it.” By 2008, it was too unbearable to avoid, so Drinkwater finally visited a doctor.

Matt said that his doctor diagnosed the problem, but did nothing to fix it. Drinkwater has been dealing with osteochondritis dissecans for the past 3 years. Usually a rare disease, Drinkwater’s injury is very unusual because it has the same effects and outcomes as this biological defect, but he wasn’t born with it, which is usually how people get it.

What is usually addressed as a joint disorder, this happens when cracks forming in the articular cartilage and in the underlying bone. This cuts off the blood flow to the cartilage and causes the bone to die in a process called avascular necrosis. The bone is healed by the body but leaves the cartilage prone to damage and results in tiny fragments in the cartilage, restricting its ability to regrow. Not to mention the extreme pain with every step, and more cracking in the cartilage as well.

The first doctor he went to see, only gave him medicine to reduce some of the pain.

“Well, literally speaking, my cartilage basically died on me. I could be walking down the hallway and it would just give out on me and I couldn’t stop myself from hitting the floor. The medicine they gave me never really worked, so I just had to deal with it for 8 years,” Matt said.

5 years and 8 doctors later, Drinkwater will finally get the surgery he needed. In his interview, Matt state that It took 4 doctors to ignore the problem, and one final one to resolve it. In October he underwent cartilage reconstruction surgery, but this was only the beginning. He had to have four surgeries just to begin to fix the initial injury. When the doctor visits were over, Drinkwater was bound to his Hoveround and told he couldn’t walk on his knee for 6 weeks. After that, he would undergo 9 months to a year of recovery, consisting of physical therapy and other traditional forms of healing. “It was weird getting used to going to physical therapy; a year and a half is a long time.”

What began as just another game on the ice, ended with years of intolerable pain and ignorance from trained professionals. Matt is no longer able to play hockey and is not sure if his chances will get any better in the future.

“If I could, I would get back on the ice tomorrow,” Matt said. I loved playing and it sucks that I’m not able to anymore.”