High School Kicker in Tennessee Cleared by Dr. to Pursue His Next Goal
Johnson City, TN (PRWEB) July 31, 2013 -- The parents of 17-year-old Logan Birchfield received a long awaited phone call this week from Urologist Dr. David W. Jones stating that after 2 years of post procedure follow-ups and testing, "There is no sign of tumor re-growth or scar tissue. Logan is cleared and there is no need for any further testing or follow-up visits concerning the tumor."
"This outcome has been a huge faith builder. God has guided us and the people around us through this whole nerve wrecking process which has taken years off our lives from worry. There is no denying that God is the reason for Logan’s good health today," said Johnny and Crystal Birchfield.
The last 4 years for Logan Birchfield, now a junior in High School, has been all about making goals, whether on the soccer field or the football field. Every time he kicks a ball for the Elizabethton Cyclones he wants to make that goal. But those aren’t the only goals he has been concerned with lately. Near the end of his freshman soccer season a routine ultrasound showed a mass in his bladder that sets up a series of far more important goals that he needed to reach.
In 2011, Logan was diagnosed with Leiomyoma/Leiomyosarcoma inside the bladder wall and the latter a cancerous form could not be ruled out 100% unless it was surgically removed and biopsied. A leiomyosarcoma is a rare cancerous tumor. A leiomyoma of the urinary bladder is a rare benign tumor predominantly found in women, its frequency being estimated below 1%. Leiomyoma of the bladder is extremely rare in children. In 2012, a 6-year-old boy with bladder leiomyoma, to our knowledge, represents the second reported case of bladder leiomyoma in pediatric patients since 1966. (Source: US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]). He would have to undergo an eight-hour procedure at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore Maryland to have the tumor removed. The successful procedure was performed by Dr. John P. Gearhart, a world renowned surgeon in Pediatric Urology, and his staff. Recovery time for the procedure would take months and be very painful.
Even after this difficult procedure, recovery, and extensive physical therapy Logan, maintaining a 3.5 GPA, was also determined to not miss a single football game his sophomore year. He even managed to make a last minute 24-yard field goal against conference rivals the Sullivan North Raiders (23-21) to secure a Cyclones Conference Championship. He had missed an earlier field goal which would have put the Cyclones ahead by two scores and made the need for a last minute FG attempt for the win irrelevant, now a field goal was their only hope for a win. When asked about the missed kick in a post game interview Birchfield said, "The miss is still in my head, but it’s always about the next kick. So I have to think about the next one. As soon as it got off my foot, I knew it was going through. It’s always about the next kick." (Source: Johnson City Press)
Logan has attended numerous College Specialist Camps in 2012 and 2013 to hone his technique and hopefully get on the radar of some college recruiters. He receives private instruction from James Wilhoit former University of Tennessee kicker and current kicking coach of some of the top kickers in the nation. Logan wants to pursue an education in Physical Therapy/Sports Medicine.
Whitney Williams, Shell Media, http://shellmediaonline.com, 1-423-928-8544, [email protected]
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