The road to recovery

The football game against Bynum on Sept. 13 was like any other for Anthony Pacheco, a senior at Perrin High School.

“It was before halftime, and I was running a route,” Pacheco said. “I usually play running back, but back when I played 11-man football I was a receiver.”

Pacheco said what happened next would change his high school experience.

“I was running and I caught the ball, and I got tackled, but it wasn’t a hard hit or anything,” he said. “My body ended up going one way and my foot stayed planted and I knew something wasn’t good.”

Pacheco said he felt a pop and immediately fell to the ground. Judy Williams, Pacheco’s aunt, said everyone around him knew what happened.

“The ref, who was probably 10 feet away, said he heard the pop,” Williams said. “He said he knew the sound, and he heard it tear in half.”

“It,” in this case, was Pacheco’s anterior cruciate ligament, more commonly referred to as an ACL. Pacheco remembers going to the hospital the next day and hearing what the doctor said to him.

“He said my ACL was torn in half, my MCL was torn and something was wrong with my meniscus,” he said. “It was hard to hear.”

It was also hard to hear for Callie Mason, Pacheco’s mom. She fought back tears in her eyes as she recalled the moment he was injured, and all of the elementary school students that Pacheco knew came up to the sidelines.

“All of the kids came over to him and said ‘Anthony, Anthony are you okay?’” Mason said. “It was hard seeing him on the ground, because I knew something was bad, but all Anthony did was stand up and give the kids a thumbs up.”

Pacheco said that moment was the hardest for him, as he spent his summer as a lifeguard over at Unk’s Lake and saw many of the elementary students there. He also worked with many of the children at the school and knew he had to be strong for them.

“That was the hardest part,” Pacheco said. “I was in pain and I knew it was bad but I didn’t tear up until all of the kids ran over to me. I knew I had to be strong for them so I stood back up and cleared my eyes and told them ‘yeah, I’m okay.’”

Mary Norton, a senior at Perrin High School, walked across the football field with Pacheco on Sept. 27 as Homecoming King and Queen. She was also there at the Bynum game when Pacheco was injured, working as a student trainer.

“When I was on the sidelines and I saw the injury, I knew it was bad,” Norton said. “It got worse when he came to me and I knew there was nothing I could do for him. It was like watching a brother get hurt in front of me.”

Pacheco has a long road to recovery ahead of him now. The school insurance is covering part of the surgery, but Pacheco’s family does not have insurance, and will have to pay out of pocket.

“The surgery alone is $12,000, and that doesn’t cover the anesthesiologist or the aftercare,” Mason said. “I’ve talked to two surgeons and they have to go in and make him a new ACL, stitch up his meniscus and repair what has not repaired on its own of the MCL.”

The family is holding a benefit on Nov. 2 at 9 a.m. to raise money for the surgery. The family is selling shirts which are available to order through the school offices and cheerleaders with a deadline of Oct. 24 on all orders. 

Pacheco said although he knows there is a long recovery road ahead of him, he just wants to be able to do what he’s always done.

“It may be too much to ask, but I still want to play sports again,” Pacheco said. “If I can’t do that then I’d at least like to walk normal again.”