Inspiring Story: Senior Outfielder Victoria Oliveira Overcomes Two Surgeries Including Herniated Disc to Now Have Multiple Scholarships Offers!

There are injuries and then there are injuries.

There are muscle strains, sprains, and, hopefully, not anything worse… but could you imagine suffering an injury that involved having a vertebrae in your back removed and being forced to be in bed for half a year?

Victoria Oliveira, a talented senior outfielder for the South Jersey Mystics 18U – Garrett team can… because that’s what happened to her three years ago.

In late 2020, the current senior at Tom’s River North High in New Jersey was involved in a scary injury as she was a base runner heading towards second (“I was safe!” she’s quick to add) but an opposing infielder blocked the bag and the two collided in such a violent way that it caused a disc herniation in Victoria’s back and forced her to be bed-bound for six months.

Today, Victoria has recovered so well after the initial operation and a follow-up surgery, an extended period of healing and a long regime of physical therapy, that she is currently weighing her scholarship options from multiple college softball programs who’ve offered.

And it’s possible “Victorina,” as she’s also lovingly called by her friends and teammates, may be committed by the end of this month.

Victoria has come back so completely from her injury that she was named to the Extra Inning Softball 2023 All-Summer Team and this is how her bio read:

Victoria Oliveira, 2024, OF, Mystics National – Garrett

A star outfielder and a threat at the plate, Victoria hit .406 for the Mystics National (Garrett) this summer. After recovering from an injury that kept her off the field for six months, Victoria defied odds and has become a top recruit in her class. She finished the season with 42 hits, 41 RBIs, and seven home runs. “There is not a tougher kid in this sport than Vic,” shared her coach, Bryan Garrett. Currently uncommitted, she plans to accept one of her offers this fall.

For the 2023 summer travel ball season, Vic’s stat numbers included 41 hits in 47 games with seven home runs, a .406 batting average and 41 runs driven in.

“Vic is awesome!” Mystics Head Coach Bryan Garrett exclaims. “She joined us last winter and was late coming back from injury but was a beast middle-of-the-lineup kid, fearless and a tough kid.  I couldn’t be prouder of the road Vic traveled, especially because one hitting coach told her she should find a new sport because she’s not national or college material in softball.”

The athlete’s eventual return to the softball fields stronger and better than ever is inspiring, but, as often is the case in life, one has to go through severe trials and difficulties to reach even greater heights.

In this first-person account Victoria revisits her nightmarish injury and how she went through the darkness of the painful recovery to return to where she is today: a future college softball player about to finalize where she will play…

*****

A time in my life when I experienced a setback was the softball season in late 2020. In late 2020, I was playing softball year-round—for school teams and national teams all over the country.

In one game I was running the bases after a base hit and slid into second base—a player on the other team and I collided due to her blocking the base.

That night I felt unbearable pain in my back, so my parents decided to bring me to an orthopedic surgeon out of Toms River (New Jersey).

After a few weeks of physical therapy, we collectively agreed that I could go back to play softball because the pain had been subsiding with the stretches and exercises I was completing during the sessions.

However, while practicing and the season coming to a start, in late March and early April of 2021, the pain came back and worse than before.

My parents took me back to the same doctors’ office, where they referred me to an orthopedic spine specialist surgeon. He took more MRIs of my back and found that the disc in my spine was herniated and bulging.

With his guidance, we attempted two cortisone injections, an epidural and neither helped at all so we had to resort to our final option, surgery.

The doctor completed a discectomy on May 4th, 2022 on my L3-L4 disc and was able to remove what was causing my pain.

However, during surgery there were some complications. A hole was poked in my dural sac which caused me to have a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak. When a CSF leak occurs, it causes severe pain and migraines.

The way to relieve this pain was bed rest until the CSF leak subsides, or heals on its own. Normally, this takes about a week, but this pain did not subside. This pain from the CSF lasted all day and night for two months straight.

In July, the headaches finally subsided on their own. I was slowly cleared to join my softball team back and begin practicing. After I began practicing, the back pain returned. After every swing I took, anytime I ran, threw a ball, my left leg went completely numb and my back would begin to spasm.

I couldn’t continue to play softball because of this unbearable pain and loss of feeling in my leg from the knee down. I was feeling so discouraged; this is my passion! I thought I would never be able to play this sport again.

It crushed me.

My current orthopedic specialist recommended us to Dr. Shabbar F. Danish, the head of Neurology and Jersey Shore Medical. Dr. Danish does not normally work pediatric cases, but since this was such a rare case, he was willing to do whatever it took to help me recover.

After some discussion, he decided it would be best for me to have another surgery right away. He explained this surgery would be exploratory, and that he was going to try to find and solve the problem.

This surgery occurred January 23, 2023, in Jersey Shore Medical Center. Dr. Danish found that I had an enormous CSF sac that built up in my spine from this leak. One of the nerves in my spine was wrapped around this sac, causing it to tear. This was the cause of the numbness I was feeling down my leg.

He removed this CSF sac and put my nerve back into place, ensuring it wouldn’t come back out. The surgery was complete.

Back in the early months of 2023, I wasn’t supposed to be cleared to play again until August, but after two months of intense physical therapy, I met with Dr. Danish in March… and he cleared me to play!

Dr. Danish was so pleased with my recovery and healing, that he believed I was ready to go back to play. I was able to play my national travel league this spring and summer and I was the captain of the varsity softball team. And I will get to play softball in college.

This experience taught me to never take anything for granted and made me realize I want to go to school to be a physical therapist, so I can help people the way they helped me reach my goals again. I can relate to them and tell them my success story.

This obstacle taught me to never give up, even when it gets rough. Hard work pays off!

*****

More with Victoria

Biggest Challenge:

“The biggest challenge I faced was during the recovery phase—the pain, not being able to walk, not going to school, thinking I couldn’t play softball again and the fear I would never get better.”

Recovery Process:

“Two surgeries, an epidural, cortisone shots and a lot of physical therapy!”

What I learned about myself from the experience:

“I learned how important my life is and how not to take it for granted because it can be taken away in a split second. Also, I realized how much I love softball and I’m so happy to be back at the same or above the level I was.”

Greatest supporters:

“My biggest supporters were my parents, siblings, and friends. They all helped and believed in me throughout my injury. They assisted me when I couldn’t walk, fed me, and helped me walk and talked to me when I was at my lowest.”

Advice to give to other injured players:

“Don’t get discouraged and, if you believe in yourself and let your injury heal, you can get back to playing. There will be ups and downs to your recovery, and always remember: healing takes time.”

— Brentt Eads/Extra Inning Softball

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