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Hutt pushes the pain aside Cougars senior set to shine Courtland transfer battles back Date published: 9/1/2005
By ADAM HIMMELSBACH One year ago, she was confined to her home, nursing a back that felt as if it'd been cracked like a lobster tail. She couldn't go to school, because sitting for an entire class period turned her into a mound of ache. She couldn't go to the movies. She couldn't run. She couldn't do much of anything. Obviously, then, Edith Hutt couldn't play volleyball. That part hurt the most. So today, to see the senior running and setting and spiking for the Courtland Cougars without a flinch, it's nothing short of amazing. She's a bundle of power and grace. For a time, the transfer from Stonewall Jackson wasn't sure if she'd ever be able to do any of this again. During the spring of 2004, her sophomore year, Hutt started having lower back pain while tossing a discus for the Stonewall Jackson track team. Doctors told her it was just a muscle strain, so she kept throwing. She plopped bags of ice onto her back after practice each day, and kept throwing. The pain worsened. She told herself she wouldn't be stopped by a stupid strain. She stayed active through the summer. By last August it was no longer possible to sweep the pain under the carpet. Hutt woke up one morning and couldn't bend over. She went back to the doctor. They told her she had fractures in her first and fourth lumbar vertebrae. They told her she couldn't play volleyball. For Hutt, that wasn't an option. She took painkillers and showed up for the first day of practice. Somehow, she made it through tryouts and the first game of the season, but then she could barely move. Her volleyball season was over. It got worse. When she went to class and sat for extended periods, the pain was unbearable, so she was home-schooled for several months. She watched as the volleyball team won a district championship. They won it without her, and that part wasn't easy to swallow. Hutt wore a large back brace, taking it off only when she went to sleep. As winter arrived, she grew depressed. This wasn't the life a vibrant and active teenage girl was supposed to live.
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