ST. JOHNS, Fla. – Imagine being in so much pain that even the basic things are too overwhelming. For months, there’s no diagnosis that identifies the excruciating pain.
“I could not walk some days,” said Creekside senior lacrosse player Natalie Charyak. “I couldn’t even sit down. It was so terrible.”
That’s what life was like for Charyak last year.
At the beginning of the 2023 lacrosse season, Charyak jammed her foot in a hole and started to have back pain.
“I went to see a chiropractor,” Charyak said. “They told me it was SI (sacroiliac) joint and everything. I played through the pain all season long. I was just like in a state of confusion because I didn’t know if it was OK to continue to play on this.”
Game after game, Charyak continued to have back pain and couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her.
“She’s willing to put the team above herself to really play and play through it and play hard and really give her best effort despite that,” Creekside girls lacrosse head coach Lisa Coppola said.
At the end of the season, Charyak finally found out where the pain was coming from.
“Finally got an X-ray and an MRI and then found out I had a bilateral pars fracture of my L3,” Charyak said.
Charyak had to wear a back brace for three months and couldn’t play lacrosse.
“I couldn’t even pick up my stick,” Charyak said.
Then this past September she started physical therapy and lacrosse training to get back into shape ahead of the season.
“Coming back my first game back here, my first practice back was like amazing,” Charyak said. “It was just such a relief. I was like ‘no pain, amazing’.”
Now Charyak is back on the lacrosse field as a captain and midfielder for the Knights in her final season before she continues playing the sport she loves in college at Kennesaw State.
“It really made me realize how much I love this sport and how much I need to not take it for granted because every game could be your last game,” Charyak said.