Shannon Atkins shows off her cast and crutches next to her all-in-one station, where she can access everything she needs while teaching without having to move around. Photo by Ivy Duongby Bethany Pham, Staff Writer
Around Fountain Valley High School (FVHS), students can sometimes see a teacher donning a semi-obvious cast on her left leg making her way around campus in a little black scooter. Math teacher Shannon Atkins had quite the story to tell behind her injury.
“It was really, kind of a lame accident,” said Atkins. “I was riding my bike on the beach path—pretty fast—and I turned to say something to my friend, and then my handlebars turned, so my wheel turned into the sand and stopped me very abruptly. Then, I fell back onto the bike path, put my foot down to catch myself, and saw my leg bent.”
Little did Atkins know that paramedics would take this bent leg to bend it back into shape for blood flow to return to her foot, which didn’t have a pulse at the time of their arrival. Once they stabilized the foot, x-rays revealed that two normal pieces of bone popped out of her foot while five shattered pieces of bone came out of Atkins’ knee.
“The doctor said that he had to make a puzzle out of it to figure out how the bone was supposed to go back together,” Atkins laughingly said.
Atkins’ recuperation began with a five-hour surgery to install screws and plates into the bones in her leg; she remained hospitalized for the next four days. Today, Atkins is regularly teaching and appreciates all the extra help that her co-workers offer, but she takes Tuesdays and Thursdays off to rest.
“It’s hard, it really is,” Atkins said with a sigh. “Just going to the bathroom, for example, like going down the hallway to get to the bathroom, and walking from my car to my classroom, vice versa. Otherwise I’m just sitting here [in my class] and I’ve got my set-up. Ms. Springer helped me. I’ve got my computer, I’ve got my overhead, I’ve got my phone on the ground here, so I don’t ever have to get up other than to go to the bathroom. A lot of the other teachers are making copies for me and helping me out.”
The overall experience has taken an emotional toll on Atkins, as she’s coping with her dependency on others, but she’s learned to emerge from it all as a better person.
“It’ll be two months until I can walk again, but I’m getting really strong,” said Atkins. “It’s very frustrating though, because unfortunately, but also fortunately, I had friends that came literally the whole first month bring me dinner every night. Friends came over on the weekend to clean my house for me and brought their kids to play with my kids so they wouldn’t get bored. I’ve been super lucky, but even still, it’s frustrating to have to ask people to do all of that stuff.”
Through all of her struggles, Atkins still manages to keep a hopeful outlook and hopes for the best.
