Junior suffers season-ending knee injury

Rocco Monastero, Guest Writer
September 29, 2021

At the beginning of this football season, junior Anthony Santoro tore his ACL during a preseason camp.

Anthony Santoro tore his ACL after he tweaked his knee in a scrimmage vs Euclid. He said, “Two days later in practice, I made a hard cut and my knee just collapsed. It was a sharp crunching pain. It felt like my knee fell off the bone.” Photo by Anthony Santoro.

Santoro’s first thought after he awkwardly landed on his leg was that there was a problem. He said, “I knew something was wrong from the intense sharp pain I felt immediately. Once my adrenaline was gone, I started to worry that I had done serious damage to my knee.”

When Santoro’s doctor told him the news that he had torn his ACL, he was overwhelmed with feelings. He said, “I was shocked and upset. It didn’t feel real. I knew I was done for the football season and needed surgery.”

Santoro had surgery on Aug. 31 at Cleveland Clinic. He said, “Surgery went very well, but I am in a lot of pain. I am happy that I am one step closer to recovery and am ready to continue my journey. The nurses and doctors were great and made it an easy surgery to receive.”

Santoro also said that he has gotten a lot of support and great treatment so far during his recovery process. “My parents, doctors, and the athletic trainer Heather Fisher have been very supportive and helpful. My friends and teammates have also shown a great amount of support and love,” he said.

He noted that he is aware it will be a long and tough recovery, but he’s ready to face the challenge. “It still hurts of course, but I have a brace to help support it and give it comfort. I am prepared to get surgery and start the long recovery process,” Santoro said.

Long-time wrestling teammate Sal Palmisano heard about the unfortunate injury of his close friend and was devastated for Santoro. Palmisano said, “I was in total shock and disbelief. I felt horrible for him, but I know it was only a minor setback for a major comeback.”

Santoro believes it’s going to be very important for him to help himself recover throughout the process. He said, “I need to make sure I continue to rest and ice and do exercises to strengthen my leg again once I can start rehab. It will be important for me to stay determined and focused on my journey to recovery.”

Palmisano thinks this injury won’t have much of an effect on Santoro when he returns to sports. Palmisano said, “I think it will be a very tough recovery since it is an ACL injury. However, I think and hope he will be back and will perform similar to how he did before this injury.“