Youngstown State's Rohrs Refocuses on Life Off the Court

Once a promising forward on the Youngstown State women’s basketball team, Kaitlin Rohrs has turned her lifelong passion of being a Division-I athlete to raising funds and awareness for ailments that ended her college career before it even began.

After two seasons of fighting to get on the court, Rohrs was forced to retire from competitive athletics at the end of the 2010-11 season due to Exertional Compartment Syndrome in both of her lower legs and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Rohrs attributes both to over-exertion in her athletic career prior to her arrival at YSU in the fall of 2009.

Rohrs was granted a career-ending medical exemption this past March by the NCAA, which allows her to keep her scholarship without counting toward the maximum number of scholarships allotted to the women’s basketball program. She will work 20 hours per week in the athletic training room while working toward her degree. Rohrs will also use her new time off the court to inspire others, raise awareness for CFS and caution young athletes and their parents on taking care of their bodies.

Throughout her youth years, Rohrs routinely participated in athletics year-round. She was an All-Ohioan in volleyball during the fall, an all-state selection in basketball in the winter and a regional qualifier in track and field during the spring. During the summer, she played for traveling teams and attended camps to help her exposure with college scouts. Rohrs never gave her body time to rest, and she pushed through pain. Playing to keep her pride and adopting the policy of “no pain, no gain” ultimately played a large part in shorting Rohrs’ career.

“I was the athlete who rarely iced or heated before games, lacked good sleeping and eating habits, did not stretch thoroughly because no one else seemed to, and never took time off or rested after being injured,” Rohrs said. “I have learned that my body’s structure is out of whack most likely due to the pounding my body has taken over all these years. I want to get involved in educating parents and athletes, young and old, about overuse and career ending injuries."

Rohrs was originally diagnosed with shin splints during her senior year of high school, but after long periods of rest and different methods of therapy, it was evident there was a more serious issue. She was diagnosed with Exertional Compartment Syndrome, which is defined on MayoClinic.com as “an uncommon, exercise-induced neuromuscular condition that causes pain, swelling and sometimes even disability in affected muscles of your legs or arms.” She had a fasciotomy to relieve pressure in her legs in May 2009, and she was one of the rare cases where surgery did not allow her to return to her normal activities.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) as a “debilitating and complex disorder characterized by profound fatigue that is not improved by bed rest and that may be worsened by physical or mental activity.” The cause is unknown, and there is no single test to confirm a diagnosis. Rohrs was originally diagnosed with mononucleosis, and Rohrs describes CFS as having mono continuously.

Rohrs tore her medial collateral ligament (MCL) hustling after a loose ball the day before her first day of college. That masked the severity of the condition in her lower legs, and she focused her rehabilitation efforts on her knee to get ready for the start of the season. She dressed in her uniform for YSU the first game of the season at the Elon Tipoff Classic, but she had to stop in the middle of warm-ups due to pain in her shins. That was as close as Rohrs ever got to reaching her dream of playing Division-I basketball. She still contributed to the program the next two seasons by attending practices regularly, often participating in drills by setting screens or passing and helping run the scoreboard.

Although Rohrs won’t be playing on the hardwood, she’s using the same competitive fire that made her a standout athlete to help fuel her new cause. She has started selling wristbands through Facebook to help raise money for the Morton Fund for CFS Research at the University of Miami. The front of the blue wristband reads “CEBV & CFS AWARENESS”, and the inside says “I WILL PREVAIL #31”. Rohrs’ basketball number was 31.

Rohrs has also spoken on her faith at her church in Napoleon, Ohio, and she has discussed her story with newspapers and television stations near her hometown of Liberty Center in Northwest Ohio. She says sharing her testimony of faith in public and relaying it on her blog helps her maintain hope and gives her inner strength. She’s also been in communication with former YSU baseball coach Mike Florak, who has given many inspirational speeches and written a book about his triumph over Crohn’s disease and depression.

“With everything that I have been through, I have learned that we cannot control everything that happens in our lives, but we can control how we let it affect us,” she said. “I used to ask ‘why me?’ when dealing with this whole unfortunate situation. Now I say, ‘well, why not me?’ I may not ever recover or return to my pre-illness health state, but I know that as long as I take it day by day and focus on the accomplishments that I couldn’t achieve before, then I am on the journey to a better frame of mind."

In the classroom, she has maintained a perfect 4.0 cumulative grade-point average. She is on schedule to earn her Bachelor’s degree in marketing in two years.

“I understand that even though I have done everything possible to get back on the court that some things still fail to happen, no matter how hard I try.  There is still plenty of life to be lived and even though I have rough days ahead of me with my health, I know that I will prevail.”

Rohrs first-hand account of her challenges is published at http://www.fightingfatigue.org/fbchallenge/?p=131, and her blog can be found at http://www.thoughts.com/Kate_31.To purchase the CFS wristbands, visit http://www.facebook.com/WristbandsforaCFSCure.

Those wishing to donate to the Morton Fund for CFS Research can do so at http://www.cfsclinic.com/.
Video from Rohrs’ story on Fox Toledo can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiyZ03VOtaA.

(Courtesy YSUSports.com)