More Than a Student-Athlete
By Avery West | IG: @avewestt
The past year has been one of the hardest years of my life. I thought the biggest change I would face would be being a freshman in college dealing with the stress of balancing school and lacrosse. When I found out my family was moving across the country for the second time in four years, I thought that would become the biggest change. It wasn’t until November of 2022, when my mom was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), that I knew that my life would be forever changed.
When my mom was diagnosed with ALS, the thought of trying to navigate being a biology major while good grades, a freshman preparing for their first collegiate season, and a good daughter felt impossible. It’s not easy to come to terms with the fact that your mom is dealing with an illness that is causing her muscles to slowly stop working, but it’s even harder to come to those terms when you go to school in South Carolina while your mom remains in Massachusetts.
I became very good at putting on a mask. I knew that I had to be strong during school because I had a GPA to maintain. I knew that I had to be strong during practice because I had the responsibility of being the best teammate I could be. But I came to realize that it’s okay to not always be strong. Your teammates are going to love you even if you have a bad practice because you’re struggling. Your professors are going to be understanding and help you. Your coach isn’t going to penalize you for being a human. There is no reason to struggle alone.
I found it important that though I am dealing with something personally, so is almost everyone else. I wasn’t at the point in my life where I was ready to share my mom’s diagnosis with others, so if I didn’t share every struggle in my life, how can I assume that everyone else does? I learned that it’s not always about helping people directly with a problem, but instead simply being there. Having friends who were there for me without even knowing what I was struggling with made the biggest difference while I processed the change. I realized that I shouldn’t wait to show love and support to people when I find out they’re struggling, but instead I should show love and give support all the time because someone else’s life is never black and white.
Life will never be labeled easy by anyone, whether they’re dealing with something like disease, or even if they’re simply having an “off day”. I know that I never have the full story of others’ lives, or maybe not even a full chapter, but the way I treat others can make an immense difference in their lives, just like it did in mine.
