Kansas high school basketball star Ava Jones determined to play despite damage to her knees
John Green
NICKERSON – Nickerson basketball standout Ava Jones had expected to sit out her freshman year as a redshirt athlete at the University of Iowa, where she signed to play in July.
After receiving news Wednesday about the severity of damage to her knees from being hit by a car in Kentucky just days after that signing, Jones said it likely will be at least two years before she can return to the court, if then.
She's not ready to concede she’ll never play basketball again, a possibility raised by Iowa coach Lisa Bluder during a public board meeting at the university last week.
Either way, Ava, 17, and her mother Amy Jones, 44, who was even more severely injured when an SUV struck four members of their family on a Louisville, Kentucky, sidewalk, have more challenges ahead.
Related:Highly touted basketball recruit and parents hit by vehicle in downtown Louisville
Trey Jones, their husband and father, died from injuries he suffered in the July 5 crash. The driver, Michael Hurley, 33, faces charges of murder, assault and driving under the influence of drugs. He has a scheduling hearing in court next week.
Unexpected news for Ava Jones
Ava and Amy returned home in mid-August after spending weeks in a Kentucky hospital and rehabilitation facilities.
It was just Monday that Ava received an MRI of her knees because of instability she sometimes felt while walking.
She returned to school part-time on Tuesday for the first time since the crash to begin her senior year. She attends twice a week and continues therapy the other three days.
She received the report on the MRI scan Wednesday, which showed three torn ligaments in her right knee, and all four in the left. She’s now wearing braces on both knees to prevent further damage, pending surgery.
"I'd been saying they (her knees) felt different," Ava said. "They felt loose. But I didn't think it would be this bad."
The plan is to have one knee repaired and then go into rehabilitation for four to six months before surgery can occur on another. She also needs surgery on a shoulder for an AC joint separation, which occurs when the clavicle separates from the scapula. But it can’t be done as long as she needs to use crutches.
These complications mean at least another year to 18 months of surgeries and physical therapy.
Other complications
Ava can’t have any of the surgeries, however, until she further recovers from a traumatic brain injury she suffered to her frontal lobe in the crash. It’s unknown how long that might be.
“I need to see a neurologist, to see if my brain can take being under (anesthesia,)” she said. “There are a lot of unknowns. But I know what I can do is keep pushing.”
Bluder told the university’s Presidential Committee on Athletics on Thursday she doesn't expect Jones to play basketball again due of the severity of her injuries, the Cedar Rapids Gazette reported.
Ava and her mother said their local orthopedic surgeon didn’t go that far in his prognosis.
“He said it’s a long process and will take a long time, with a lot of rehab,” Amy Jones said.
“I might be able to play if the healing works,” Ava said. “I haven’t given up my dreams of playing basketball. It just may be a longer and harder road than it was before. We’ll see.”
Even if she can’t play, the women’s basketball program at Iowa has committed to honoring her scholarship. And Ava said she plans to be on the sidelines.
“Even if I’m not able to play, I want to be around the team,” she said. “I’ll still be on the team.”
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Amy Jones has her own hurdles
Amy Jones faces her own additional future surgery.
She reported in an update on Facebook that 20 of 21 broken bones – occurring literally from head to toe − have healed. But her right tibia, which broke in half, is not healing despite steel rods holding the bones in place.
She’ll have to have a bone graft, but she doesn’t know when that might occur because a flap of skin moved from her calf to cover the hole in the front where the bones came through is still healing.
“I have the stitches out, which is good,” she said. “I’m hoping the doctor will look at it and say it’s healed enough to do the surgery.”
She’s frustrated still being in a wheelchair, Jones confessed, but her doctors told her the leg was not strong enough to put weight on.
More:Driver who hit Jones family pleads not guilty
She also has a lingering shoulder injury that prevents her from fully raising her right arm and being able to wash her hair, which she longs to do.
“What’s hardest for me is just not being able to walk, and to drive, to take care of daily stuff like take the trash out, check the mail and do dishes. It’s frustrating having to have someone help.”
It's also hard, Amy Jones said, to not have her husband around to help and offer support.
“He took care of us,” she said. “It’s weird relying on my mother-in-law and my mom.”
Nonetheless, Jones has returned remotely to part-time work as an assistant superintendent with the Nickerson school district, assisting teachers and principals by phone or Zoom.
“We definitely did not plan for this when we were in Louisville on vacation,” Amy Jones said. “It was awful, but it happened.”
More:Jones family returns home
Other challenges for Ava Jones
Her own frustrations, Ava said, “are not being able to be a normal kid, to be able to do my senior year.”
Normally, she’d be playing volleyball now, then basketball and track. Instead, she’s “trying to get my brain back to normal,” with speech, occupational and physical therapy.
They think returning to school part-time, and being able to socialize, will help.
Besides focusing on reading and memory, she works on breathing and getting her voice back.
They don’t know if the damage to her throat was from being hit by the car, or Ava pulling her trachea tube out twice in the hospital when she was unconscious.
She also pulled out her catheter twice, including once after her arms were strapped down, with her toes. And she pulled her feeding tube out at least once.
“I was not the ideal patient,” Ava said.
Ava Jones' new determination
“She was determined, even when unconscious,” Amy Jones said.
It’s that determination that has helped the mother and daughter get so far in their recovery.
“My physical therapist tells me to tell her when I’m hurting,” Ava Jones said. “But I don’t. It’s a weakness. In sports, for me, it’s the same thing. I have to work the hardest and push the hardest.”
It’s an attitude she said she learned from her parents, both of whom were exceptional athletes.
“I know dad wanted us to be strong,” Ava said.
Ava is also dealing with the loss of her father and his support.
As a result of her experience, she said she wants to be a resource to other youth who have lost a parent, saying they can message her.
“I’m so glad it happened to us rather than some of my teammates,” Ava said. “Because we can take it, and carry it, and be strong.”