Sickman makes it back

Charles City senior reaches goal of getting back in goal a month after appendix surgery

By Mariah McKenzie

editor@charlescitypress.com

Brady Sickman, a senior at the Charles City High School, was back in the game last Monday after a month of recovery. He was diagnosed with appendicitis on April 13.

“I started feeling pain in my stomach in the morning and I left school around noon,” Sickman said. “My mother came home and took me to the hospital.”

Initially thinking it was the flu, but wanting to rule out all possibilities, the hospital took x-rays.

“I felt a sharp pain in my side though and so then they took a CT scan and they found out it was my appendix,” Sickman said.

According to Sickman, his surgeon told him it was appendicitis and his appendix would need to be removed. Once removed, he would not be allowed to do his regular activities, Sickman said.

“I couldn’t lift anything over 40 pounds. Basically I had to stay at home and I couldn’t do anything for a least a month,” he said.

Not “doing anything” included playing goalie for the Mason City Mohawks’ soccer team. With Sickman out as one of the two varsity goalies, Marco Recinos, a Mason City senior, took his place.

“It was really hard seeing my team play without me,” Sickman said. “I felt really sad when I would go and watch them because I knew they missed having me.”

After being out for about a month, he played goalie for the first time Monday, May 16. For this game Sickman played as the junior varsity goalie. On Friday, May 20 Sickman played his first varsity game since having his appendix taken out against Garner-Hayfield.

“It feels really good to be back,” he said. “It’s hard to get back to what I’m doing after being out and I’m just slowly trying to get back to doing my everyday things.”

The Garner Hayfield varsity game was the Mohawks’ senior night, thus, the senior goalkeepers shared play time. This meant Sickman played roughly 26 minutes of the varsity game. Though still trying to recover from appendicitis, he blocked all goal attempts from the opposing team.

Monday evening Sickman played in the substate game against Cedar Falls. The final score was 6-1, Cedar Falls, ending the Mohawks’ season.