EMLENTON, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Scars run deep on the outside and inside of Avah Burke’s right elbow.
They tell a complicated story of perseverance, pain tolerance and will. It’s one that Burke is proud to share. She displays her scars as badges of honor.
“I’m proud of them,” she says, smiling.
Redbank Valley, Keystone, and Union/A-C Valley sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Heeter Lumber.
When Burke, now a junior on the A-C Valley softball team, was 9, she was swinging carefree on the monkey bars when she lost her grip and fell awkwardly to the ground below. She landed on her right arm, snapping her ulna bone and badly breaking the radius bone near the elbow.
The fractures were close her growth plate and began what will likely be a lifelong fight with pain, function and quality of life.
She’s already undergone four surgeries on the elbow to grind down bone, insert screws, tuck a badly inflamed nerve away into her bicep muscle and other maintenance just to keep it bending unimpeded.
Through it all, Burke has excelled on the softball field as a catcher and shortstop — two positions that demand strong, accurate throws.
Burke is finally getting a chance to show off her skills at the high school level.
Her freshman year was scuttled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and last year she played just one game — and went 3-for-4 at the plate — before going under the knife again to fix a nerve problem in the ravaged joint.
This season, she has played in every game, batting .444 with two home runs, five doubles, two triples, 13 RBIs and 17 runs scored for the Falcons.
It hasn’t always been easy.
She’s playing through episodes of intense, searing pain.
It takes Burke longer to warm up. During games, she soldiers through the discomfort. After, sometimes the ache is borderline unbearable.
Ice doesn’t work. Neither does heat. That just makes things worse. It is bone on bone inside her elbow — nothing can be done to soothe that.
“I just have to ease myself into everything,” Burke said. “And it sounds bad, but ibuprofen helps a lot.”
Burke almost lost this season, too. She was told just weeks before the campaign was set to begin that she would need a fifth surgery, this one to shave down bone in an attempt to give her some relief from the extreme pain.
She decided to delay it until August. There was no way she was going to sit and watch another high school softball season go by without her.
Burke gets emotional when talking about her lost 2021 spring and the prospects of almost missing out this one. She blinks away tears and her lips quiver.
“I told my doctor, I told my mom, ‘I’m playing this season,’” Burke said. “‘I’m not losing out on another one.’ It was really hard, watching my team struggle (last year) in areas I could have helped.
“It’s really all about pain tolerance. I can chose when I want the surgery,” Burke added. “I knew I was waiting until the end (of the high school season). I was debating missing my travel season, and I also do 4-H. I didn’t want to miss that, either, so I’m having my surgery after travel season and after the fair in August.”
Burke has learned to deal with the pain the best she can.
During her fourth surgery, doctors were amazed by just how much she could endure. The nerve they treated was so inflamed, they were surprised how well she bore it.
“They were honestly shocked by how hot and pulsating my nerve was, and how I was able to deal with that amount of pain,” Burke said.
Her fifth surgery won’t entail any nerves this time, just the bone.
The hope is it will give Burke some long-lasting relief and she won’t need a sixth operation.
Burke knows better. She’s understandably skeptical.
“This is worse than what I was facing for my fourth surgery,” Burke said. “We’re all hoping it’s just going to be done after this, but unfortunately, I don’t think that’s going to be the case. It’s going to be recurring my whole life. I’m facing it now so I can be able to face it for my entire life.”
To watch Burke play softball, one would never suspect she is dealing with so much discomfort.
Her throws have zip and are accurate. At the plate, she swings the bat with power and contact. She’s also a vocal leader, barking out instructions between pitches and picking up her teammates when they need a word or two of encouragement.
“I feel like I’ve always had something to say,” Burke said. “But this year, I was given the role as a co-captain, so I really felt the need to step up in that area a little bit. These girls, you know, we have a lot of freshmen and sophomores on the team and they are learning — this is their first time playing varsity. I want to help them.”
Burke is also a standout soccer player.
A-C Valley doesn’t have a soccer team, so Burke plays for Karns City in the fall. She helped the Gremlins to another District 9 Class 2A title as a midfielder.
She returned to that field Wednesday to play softball, not soccer, on it — a surreal experience for her.
“It was pretty different,” Burke said. “It was pretty cool to see some of those girls on Karns City who I played soccer with.”
Burke, who spent much of her childhood in Tionesta before the family moved to Emlenton just before her freshman year in high school, hopes to play softball in college.
Her immediate focus is finding a way to stay on the field for A-C Valley, to keep persevering.
“I mean, it’s pretty satisfying. It’s good to be out on the field with these girls again,” Burke said. “I’m pretty proud of myself for going through all these surgeries on my elbow and battling back through this while facing another surgery.”
Redbank Valley, Keystone, and Union/A-C Valley sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Heeter Lumber.
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