Staff writer
Marion High School sophomore Justin Barr wanted to run track to return to normalcy.
“I just want to be treated like everyone else,” he said.
He has no illusions of winning a state championship or setting a school record.
Justin, in a way, still sees himself as the uncoordinated seventh-grade football player — a 5-foot tall offensive lineman whose shoulder pads practically came up to his ears.
Track is another conduit for social interaction with his friends and an escape from the medical tribulations he has experienced the past four years.
Not much has been normal for Barr since seventh grade.
A few days before Justin’s first Marion Middle School football game four years ago, he woke up one morning and one of his hips hurt so badly he could not walk.
The pain appeared seemingly without reason, but Justin assumed it was a bruise. A few days later, his other hip began to ache.
Justin’s mother, Caroline Kelly, knew something was wrong. They went to the doctor who diagnosed Justin with osteochondroma.
Osteochondroma is a developmental abnormality in bones; parts of the growth plates of Justin’s hips formed an outgrowth on the surface of the bone. The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons website reports osteochondroma is the most common noncancerous tumor.
The diagnosis was not obvious, but in a quick explanation, Justin learned walking would be difficult and that he would not be able to play sports for the rest of his life.
“I accepted it as a fact of life,” Justin said of being told he could no longer play sports.
Doctors said that the osteocondroma in both his hips was caused by radiation treatments Justin received when he was 3 years old for neurobalstroma, a cancer that formed in his chest.
Justin did not receive surgery right away for the osteocondroma because the normal procedure for the condition is often to let the tumor grow to its maximum point before removing it. Justin could not walk unassisted and used crutches until the pain was too much.
He watched the MMS football team compete from a wheelchair during the 2007 season.
“It was very depressing,” Justin said. “There was nothing I could do. I had very low self-esteem.”
Justin has had surgery on his hips every year since the diagnosis. When surgeons inserted pins to stabilize his hips, the medical prognosis changed — Justin could play sports.
First, he had to build up his strength through physical therapy. Since this winter, Justin has lifted weights to build strength in his upper body.
“It was a slow process,” Justin said. “I got tired a lot faster.”
Just recently, he was cleared to put the pressure of running on his legs and he ran the 100-meter dash April 5 and 8 in Marion.
“We’ve had athletes go through challenges,” MHS track coach Grant Thierolf said. “I don’t know if we have had anybody come back from what he went through.”
Justin said he is still not close to 100 percent. The osteochondroma stunted his growth. He was 5 feet tall and 137 pounds in seventh grade, and he was projected to grow to 5-foot-9. He has topped out at 5-foot-7. He weighs the same as he did in seventh grade, although he said he has transformed a lot of fat into muscle.
Justin is hindered because his knees hit as he runs; he still cannot put his feet together at a standstill.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be back to full speed,” he said. “Physically, I’m at a middle-school level.”
Kelly said that Justin still experiences some occasional discomfort with athletic exertion. Thierolf said that Justin has never complained and that the sophomore sprinter has asked his Marion coaches to treat him the same as any other athlete.
“I feel like I’m normal again,” Justin said. “I don’t feel like the odd man out.”
Since he has been competing with the track team this spring, Justin’s self-esteem and outlook have improved.
“He’s happy around school; he has a number of good friends on the track team,” Thierolf said. “I think everybody enjoys getting out there and competing.”
What makes Justin abnormal in the eyes of Thierolf is his perseverance.
“He’s very resilient. It’s one of the best traits anybody can learn,” Thierolf said. “Any time you conquer something, you can conquer other things in life.”