Many people may think that a single moment from their past can’t drastically change their future for years to come, but for one Potosi High School senior, that situation is a reality. Years ago, Caden Leibfried suffered from an open fracture of both his tibia and fibula, and he still faces some challenges from that injury today.
On July 6th, 2021, Caden arrived at Potosi High to play in the Potosi basketball tournament, hosted yearly. Caden’s mother was sick and his dad was coaching a baseball game at the school. In the opening game of the tournament, the Chieftains were facing the Cassville Comets, and Potosi eventually led by about 30 points. In the final 30 seconds of the game though, tragedy struck for Caden.
As Caden and an opponent both dove to rebound the ball on the end line of the gym, Caden’s leg took the brunt of the opponent’s landing. “I don't remember much about when it first happened,” Caden recalls. “After it happened, I just remember people were running over to me. My memory was pretty spotty from there.”
Medical staff on hand rushed to Caden to attend to the broken leg. “I remember Caden grabbing his knee after he dove, and when I looked at his leg it was just hanging there,” recalls a teammate.
Caden remained on the gym floor until ambulances arrived around 20 minutes later. He was then taken to Dubuque for treatment and x-rays, and he was later transferred to Iowa City, where he would wait for surgery. “I remember waiting in the hospital bed for hours. The pain meds had worn off by then, and they couldn't give me more, so I just had to sit there.”
Roughly 24 hours after the initial break, Caden was admitted into surgery. The procedure lasted about two hours and included implanting a plate and eight screws into Caden's tibia bone. Then the recovery began.
“I started in a cast for three weeks. After that, I wore a boot for months after.” Physical therapy began soon after he got the boot; however, due to the serious damage to both muscles and nerves in his leg, it started out very slowly.
Caden would continue PT for the next year, rebuilding the muscles and damaged tissue in his leg, and hoping that one day it would be enough to return to his athletic career. “The doctors couldn’t tell me how long the recovery process would take,” Caden explained, “I just had to take it day by day.” The recovery process was slow and painful, but after 14 weeks Caden began walking again without the boot. After more than two years, Caden returned to sports. He played football, basketball, and track during his junior year.
“I would consider myself lucky,” Caden says, “I could have never played sports again in my life if my injury was any more severe.” That glass-half-full attitude is what kept Caden going and led him to his miraculous recovery. “I believe everything happens for a reason, and though it may sound odd, if I could take my injury back, I wouldn't change a thing.”