16YO back on softball field after accident claims right hand

[Tucson]

16-year-old back on softball field after accident claims right hand


By Rhiannon Potkey
Thursday, February 12, 2009



James Glover II / Star staff Buena High School softball players line up to hug Schae Jacoby on Wednesday as she returns to the softball field for the first time since part of her right arm was amputated after an ATV accident.


Buena High School softball player Schae Jacoby, came straight from the hospital in Bakersfield to the field in Ventura. Jacoby, who lost part of her right arm, is already texting and pitching with her left hand.

The tears finally came rushing down as soon as Schae Jacoby saw her teammates.

The entire Buena High girls’ softball team was standing alongside Victoria Avenue in Ventura on Wednesday afternoon holding a banner and balloons to welcome Jacoby back to town.

The junior, a right-handed pitcher, had been gone for nearly a month since part of her right arm was amputated after an all-terrain vehicle accident.

Once Jacoby, 16, was released from the hospital in Bakersfield, she had her mom drive the family Suburban straight to the softball field. Although she hadn’t cried throughout the ordeal, seeing her teammates was an emotional tipping point.

“I am so glad to be back,” Jacoby said. “I missed all of them so much because they are all my good friends.”

The accident on Jan. 16 happened during a family camping trip near Ballinger Canyon in Los Padres National Forest.

Jacoby was a passenger in a side-by-side ATV when it tipped over, coming down a hill and crushing her right arm.

She was airlifted to Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield.

Jacoby broke six bones between her elbow and wrist, including three compound fractures.

Doctors tried to save her arm during the first week, but realized it would have to be amputated below the elbow.

By the time Jacoby was released, she had endured a total of eight surgeries and a skin graft on her right hip.

“After like the fourth surgery, I was like, ‘OK, amputate it’ because I wasn’t scared anymore,” Jacoby said. “It hurt more when I had my hand and I just wanted them to amputate it.”

A steady stream of family and friends visited Jacoby during her hospital stay, and she kept them entertained.

“This whole time she’s been in the highest spirits,” said Stacy Howery, a close family friend. “Anybody who went to visit her felt 100 percent better after seeing her. Her whole attitude about the whole thing has been absolutely amazing.”

In a twist of fate, a softball player with a similar first name and a similar situation was in the Bakersfield area playing in a tournament.

Shay Oberg, an outfielder for the Montana State Billings, was born without a left hand.

Oberg went to see Jacoby in the hospital once she heard about Jacoby’s injury.

“It was very cool. Her birthday is like three days after mine, too,” Jacoby said. “She said people will look at you weird, but it doesn’t really matter. It took her 16 years to put her hair up in a ponytail, but she said I would be fine.”

Jacoby has already resumed many of the typical teenage activities, like sending text messages with her left hand.

She is scheduled to get the braces off her teeth today, has a hair appointment on Friday and made shopping plans for Sunday.

“It is the greatest feeling ever to have her home,” Buena catcher Megan Tooley said. “I wanted to stay as happy as I could for her because she is like family.”

Jacoby intends to play softball again, and already began practicing on Wednesday.

She walked out to the mound with Tooley and threw a pitch with her left hand that hit the glove on the fly.

As Buena coach Jeff Nichols watched his players crowd around Jacoby, he couldn’t help but smile.

“It has brought them even closer, and I think it has brought the community closer,” Nichols said. “Everyone has rallied around her and supported her as much as possible.”

A fundraiser for Jacoby will be held on March 21 to help the family with medical bills.

For more information, visit http://www.bulldogsoftball.org.