It’s safe to say that nothing will keep Whitley Jenkins from playing softball for Union City High School this year.
School Communications Director Mike Hutchens said less than three weeks after undergoing brain surgery, the Lady Tornado junior was miraculously back on the diamond earlier this week, starting at second base and in her customary fifth spot in the batting order.
And in a scenario seemingly straight out of Hollywood, Jenkins laced a triple in her second at-bat to help the Twister girls to a 6-0 win over Gleason.
“It really was like something you’d see in a movie,” Union City head coach Stevie Gossett said while reliving Jenkins’ heroic return. “It was like she never took a day off. When she made it to third base, I just said: ‘It’s great to have you back, kid.’”
After she began experiencing multiple headaches following a couple of car accidents that caused concussions, Jenkins said a cyst she’d had since birth was discovered on the pituitary gland in her brain via an MRI. Surgery was scheduled and performed at LeBonheur Children’s Hospital on March 25.
Whitley, who has hit .355 for the Lady Tornadoes this season with a team-best slugging percentage and just one error defensively, admitted she was devastated by her initial diagnosis.
“I bawled my eyes out,” she said. “I was thinking that I was only 17 years old and I had so much life left to live, and what if they couldn’t remove it or something happened while they were doing it.”
It turns out that doctors could indeed successfully remove the cyst – but not without complications.
Jenkins said surgeons went through her nose to perform the procedure and she had a spinal fluid leak in her brain in the aftermath that necessitated a two-inch incision in her stomach as part of patching the leak.
Following the doctor’s orders of rest, meds, and religious use of an ice bag, she received a clean bill of health and was cleared to return to the diamond on April 14.
“There was never really a question for me ‘if’ I was going to come back and play. It was ‘when,’” smiled Jenkins, who insisted she had no restrictions but would be under precautionary surveillance for a few years.
“I was a little nervous at first. But now, I’ve just settled back in like I was before with no hesitation.”
Gossett, who conquered his own health scare in the past few years and is a cancer survivor, became emotional when discussing his initial reaction to finding out Jenkins’ news.
“As somebody who has been in a situation like that, I know it shakes you to get news like that. And I was shaken for Whitley,” the UC coach claimed. “First and foremost was the importance of her health. I told her: ‘We’re here for you. We’re praying for you. And God’s got this.’ And I’ll tell you from experience, that means a lot.
“When we got more information and found out there was a likelihood she could actually come back this season, I wanted to make sure that she understood that no matter how awesome that would be, we wanted her to take her time and recover to the fullest.
“I told her that this team is going to be here for you if you come back and when you come back.’”
Turns out, that was much sooner than later.
(photos: Mike Hutchens – School Communications Director)
