Returning from a serious injury, Thorn puts the pieces of his career back in place.

Written by Justin Dunk

In a football game, momentum can change in mere seconds; a big play or a bone-crunching hit can change the complexion of a game in an instant.
Gryphons rookie defensive lineman Cameron Thorn had his first season turned upside down in a matter of seconds.

Oct. 24, 2009, was as day that Thorn will not soon forget. The Gryphons were closing out the regular season against the McMaster Marauders in Hamilton, a game in which the Gryphons would suffer yet another close loss.
But Thorn would have to endure much more than the pain of defeat.
In the third quarter, Thorn was running down the field to cover a punt, when all of a sudden, he was on the ground, writhing in pain.
“As soon as I fell to the ground, I knew something was wrong,” Thorn said about what he felt when the injury occurred. “I looked down and saw my foot almost backwards, and I started screaming.”
Medical staffs from both teams quickly ran out onto the field to Thorn’s aid, and were soon accompanied by an ambulance.
“There was no pain until they popped my ankle back in. The medical staff had to put my ankle back in because it was cutting off the main artery to my foot,” he described. “The doctors believe that my fibula shattered when they put my ankle back into place.”
The first doctor whom Thorn met with actually told him that he would have chronic pain for the rest of his life and he would never play football again. Fortunately, the surgeon felt otherwise, saying that he would be able to heal properly with the probability of him returning to the football field.
Thorn suffered a severely dislocated ankle and a shattered fibula, which required a five-inch plate and six screws to hold the bone in place to ensure it healed properly. After surgery, Thorn had to endure many hours of painful physiotherapy in order to give himself the opportunity to return to football.
“It was painful,” Thorn said of the rehabilitation process. “I went to physiotherapy three days a week, and I started jogging and stretching to loosen up all of the stiff ligaments.”
After more than five months of physiotherapy and many workouts in the weight room, Thorn’s leg is back to full strength.
Thorn has worked all the way back to health very quickly and is participating in a full range of drills this week at the Gryphons spring practices. His football career is able to continue after battling back from such a serious and horrific injury.
Thorn had a successful rookie campaign before suffering his injury. The rookie defensive lineman dressed in all eight regular season games for the Gryphons, seeing time on special teams and rotating in on the defensive line.
He recorded one solo tackle and six assisted tackles during his rookie season and hopes to improve on those numbers by gaining an increased role next season along the defensive front.
Thorn has a clear vision of his goals now that he is able to step on the field once again.
I definitely want to start,” he said. “I am going to try to start and be the best.”

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