Two-Sport Athlete Overcomes Childhood Accident

Emma McGraw was waiting with her mom to pick up her sister, Molly, from dance practice. Her father was mowing the lawn at the same time; and as he was putting the mower away, Emma came up from behind to scare her dad.

Emma’s father did not know she was behind him and the prank suddenly became a nightmare as Emma’s leg got caught in the running mower.

The accident left Emma, a five-year-old at the time but now a two-sport athlete at Concordia Prep High School in Towson, Maryland, lying on the ground with the majority of her right leg, and some of her left foot, no longer on her body. With the help of some neighbors, her family managed to slow the bleeding and get Emma on a helicopter to Johns Hopkins Hospital.

One prosthetist told the family that Emma would never be able to walk normally again, a devastating diagnosis for anyone, but especially for a five-year-old. Her mother, Jen McGraw, instantly knew that prosthetist was not the person with whom she wanted to work. The next prosthetist the family visited, Greg Sachs, had a complete opposite attitude. Jen noted that Sachs has worked tirelessly throughout this whole process to make sure Emma has everything she needs to succeed and continues to be Emma’s prosthetist to this day.

Emma didn’t get her first prosthetic leg until about two months after the accident occurred. Later that fall, she was already back to running around and playing sports.

“We signed her up for indoor soccer and she had long, sporty looking pants on when she played,” Jen said. “And she used those constantly. The last game, for whatever reason, she wanted to wear shorts. We walked into the field as parents and, you know, the kids just couldn’t believe it. They just kept staring at her like ‘Have you had this the whole time you’ve been playing soccer?’ and she said ‘Yeah.’ They just were amazed because they would never have known. I remember thinking if she can run around a soccer field, she’s going to be okay.”

With the new prosthetic, the family needed direction on what Emma’s life would look like in the future. Then, they learned about Camp No Limits, a camp that was developed to address the needs of children with limb loss. Here, Emma met other kids who were in a similar situation and learned more about taking care of her leg.

“I just remember going there and I felt very inspired and just accepted. I felt like I was just a lot different than the people around me and it was very nice to be able to see other kids that had the disabilities that I did,” Emma said.

Although Emma beat the original diagnosis, she still has struggles with her prosthetics. When she was younger, her left foot was chronically injured due to the added stress, and she still faces numbness and pain after long weekends of games.

Despite everything, Emma continues to push and compete at high levels. At Concordia Prep, Emma competes in softball and volleyball, and recently committed to play volleyball at Hood College in Maryland with her sister next year. Since her accident, Emma has also competed in dance, basketball and even tennis.

Currently, Emma is working with the USA Volleyball Paralympic team at various skills camps to maybe one day be called up to the Olympic team.

“So far, I’ve only attended the one in March, and right now I can’t attend any until I think September because my schedule doesn’t work with it. But I’m very excited to go back and keep getting better,” Emma said. “It was a very, very cool experience.”

Emma believes her positive attitude and competitive mindset drive her to compete at a high level. The unwavering confidence she has in herself and her effort levels, both in game and in practice, allow her to ignore anyone who may heckle her. Emma also noted that her coach does a great job at reminding her that she belongs on the teams she is a part of, and that gives her confidence as both a player and a person.

“I always leave it all on the court to make sure that not only am I giving it all to my team, but also giving myself enough credit for how much I do,” Emma said. ”Honestly, things like that [taunting from the crowd] just drive me to do better because, you know, I know that I’m not what they say that I am. I try my hardest at every opportunity that I’m able to touch the ball.”