Thursday, May 12, 2011

A Rare Surgical Procedure

Imagine having surgery where a cancerous growth is removed from your leg. Your leg is amputated, the cancer is removed and the leg is reattached. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Well that is very close to what happened to Dugan Smith. But now after about 18 months, he is playing organized baseball and pitching at that! Here is his story.

Should Dugan have been allowed to continue playing organized baseball? How would you react to Dugan if he was your teammate and/or classmate? Do you think he will be as good a player as he might have been if he had not had the procedure?

22 comments:

Thomas said...

That is absolutely insane. I wonder what benefit flipping it around would have over just putting it back on normally. If it was the only way that worked without a true prosthetic, that is wild.

Sarah said...

If Dugan is able to play baseball, he should be allowed to play. If I was his classmate, I would be extremely surprised by this procedure. I think his abilities may not be as great as they used to be before his surgery.

Anonymous said...

Lauren...I think that Dugan is a very inspirational person. His story shows that anyone can do whatever they set their mind to. He should definitely be allowed to play organized baseball. Dugan should not be treated differently than any of the other players. If he were my teammate I would treat him exactly the same as everyone else. I believe that if he puts his mind to it he can go very far in baseball.

Anonymous said...

Robbie says.. I think that is crazy. I didnt know that anything like that could be done. Its good how they still let him play baseball. I dont see why he wouldnt cause the leg dont look like its giving him an advantage.

Anonymous said...

Jamie says…
I think he should still be allowed to play baseball. He can’t help the face that he got the tumor. If he was in my class or anything I would not pick on him because of his condition, neither should anyone else.

Lilli said...

If Dugan was a my classmate, I would treat him the same way I treat everyone else. I wouldn't make him feel bad about his leg, there is nothing he can do about it. I think it was a good idea that he had the procedure, because it allows him to still play baseball.

Anonymous said...

Chris says… I think he should be allowed to play organized baseball only if he can run and do all the stuff he could before. If he was my teammate or classmate I probably wouldn’t treat him any different, I would make sure he gets treated like a normal kid. I think he will be better then he was before cause he will keep playing and strive to get better.

Anonymous said...

Ernie says.... Dugan should be allowed to play organized baseball if he wants to. I dont believe a kid with a disability should be treated any different than any other oridinary kid. I believe he will be as good as he was before the surgery pretty soon.

Anonymous said...

Kristin says... There is no reason for him not to be allowed to continue playing baseball. As long as he isn't hurting himself there should be no reason for him to quit. If he was my teammate I would worry about him getting hurt more than I would another teammate, but I would try my hardest to treat him like everyone else.

Anonymous said...

Ashley says... Dugan has done wll for himself. I couldn't imagine those words when they said you have cancer and have to remove your leg. Thats a big choice to make. He has a great heart for what he does. For him to get out of procedure and still want to play he dosen't want to give up. When you put your mind to something you can accomplish anything. If he's able to play sports then he should go for it. I think it's great he still wants to play. I would feel bad for him but it would be an inspiration to me. He's a great rolemodel for some people. He has done great!

Anonymous said...

LaKendra.. I think that it is great that Dugan was allowed to still play baseball. I would have been very proud of him if I was one of his teammates. I don't think that he would have been playing this well if he had not gotten the surgery because he would not be as healthy.

Anonymous said...

Destiny saids...That is amazing how he his still playing basaeball even though he is miss one leg.

Matt said...

Matt: I think doing the procedure was a wise move, but I'm not entirely sure if what the procedure entitled was the best way of doing it. Of course, having the tumor was a horrible thing to have, and taking it out was imperative. However, I feel that they could have done something different instead of turning his leg 180 degrees.

Anonymous said...

Madi says... I do think that Dugan should be able to continue playing organized baseball. I would treat Dugan exactly the same if he was my teammate or classmate. I think that it will take time for Dugan to get back to playing baseball the way he used to, but with time he will keep getting back to himself.

Anonymous said...

Davontae said...
I seame like he been through a lot. I think the surgery realy helped hem a lot and it's great that he still wants to play sports.

Anonymous said...

He should be allowed to play. He probably will still be good. I would be nice to him. He is very brave. I love his determination.

Michael Clifford

Jake The Snake said...

Yes he should have been allowed to continue playing organized baseball. I don't think he will be as good as a player as he might have been if he had not had the procedure.

Unknown said...

Yes, I think he should be allowed since he is able to. I would treat him like everyone else. I wouldn't really say yea because I don't know how good he was when he didn't have the sugrey.

brittneyhendrix1993 said...

I feel that yes he should be able to do anything a regualr kid can do. I wouldnt know what to think if i had him ion my class like i would feel bad when i saw him. However i wouldnt treat him bad. I feel that he can be as good as he wants to be at the game as long as he put his mind to it he will do great even with his condition.

Holly said...

I think that if he is able to play, then he should be allowed to. I would be be nice to him, but then treat him like any other person. I think he still will be a good player.

Anonymous said...

WHOA!!! That dude's got a heel for a knee!!! Wow... If they can do that why didn't they just get him a whole new leg? Either doctor's are retarded or they really wanted to screw with this kid. I feel bad for him.
Gavin Dale

Anonymous said...

Jalissa Chambliss

Yes i think he deserve to play. He should get treated like every body else. He might be just as better than all the other people thats playing.