A very sad outcome.
http://www.adn.com/2011/11/21/2182727/doctors-amputate-frostbitten-feet.html
A very sad outcome.
http://www.adn.com/2011/11/21/2182727/doctors-amputate-frostbitten-feet.html
Sad indeed. What a tragic ending to a bizarre story.
This is sad. He is obviously going through some issues. Being away from home, His close friend on the team being lost to suicide. Closest friends and family all back in Kenya. Truly sad. I hope he can recover mentally and move on.
"While I am still recovering -- both physically and emotionally -- I will do my very best to give back to the community that has helped me so much and to my home country, Kenya.
"I sincerely apologize for any problems that I might have caused."
Jesus, we could all hope to be so humble. Apologizing for getting lost in a blizzard, nearly dying, and losing your feet?
akexpat wrote:
A very sad outcome.
http://www.adn.com/2011/11/21/2182727/doctors-amputate-frostbitten-feet.html
No coach should be recruiting Kenyan runners to Alaska. These athletes suffer severe cultural isolation that leads to struggles like this. Rono ended up abusing alcohol, in part, because he was so out of his element at WSU.
Old Gregg wrote:
"While I am still recovering -- both physically and emotionally -- I will do my very best to give back to the community that has helped me so much and to my home country, Kenya.
"I sincerely apologize for any problems that I might have caused."
Jesus, we could all hope to be so humble. Apologizing for getting lost in a blizzard, nearly dying, and losing your feet?
Maybe he was apologizing because he was trying to end his life...I don't know, but I wish him the best. It sounds as if he was struggling with the loss of his teammate and perhaps other things.
I agree. Not saying it's the coaches fault - but obviously something is wrong here. From this point on I beg of you coach, stop with the Kenyan pipeline....once is maybe an accident...twice?? Stay local.
I don't understand why he had to have his feet amputated.
akexpat wrote:
A very sad outcome.
http://www.adn.com/2011/11/21/2182727/doctors-amputate-frostbitten-feet.html
No coach should be recruiting Kenyan runners to Alaska. These athletes suffer severe cultural isolation that leads to struggles like this. Rono ended up abusing alcohol, in part, because he was so out of his element at WSU.
_-__-__ wrote:
No coach should be recruiting Kenyan runners to Alaska. These athletes suffer severe cultural isolation that leads to struggles like this. Rono ended up abusing alcohol, in part, because he was so out of his element at WSU.
Not helping that suicide is a huge issue in Alaska. Even natives have a high suicide rate among young adults.
When a persons feet or hands become so frost bitten they become basically dead tissue and wont produce any blood flow. This is most likely why his feet were amputated. An older friend of mine was caught out in no mans land one time at -30 below. The result was he had to have both his hands amputated. Alaska is a very unforgiving place that can have brutally cold winters. I was born and raised in Alaska so I know as well as anyone what kind of cold this guy was out in.
bigredmachiner wrote:
I agree. Not saying it's the coaches fault - but obviously something is wrong here. From this point on I beg of you coach, stop with the Kenyan pipeline....once is maybe an accident...twice?? Stay local.
Do you really have to bring your constant tirade against foreign athletes on these boards into this issue? If you have such a problem with it, join an organization other than the NCAA.
Your implication that this happened because they are Kenyans living in a different climate is baseless. You likely don't know either of those runners; You probably don't know anything about them, or their lives, past their team affiliation. Get some sense.
He's saying that going from Africa to Alaska is a huge change, one that they may not be prepared for. Is this really that big of a stretch?
There aren't many skinny eskimos who can un 29 min 10k's and 14 min 5k's.
I'd love to see him get into prosthetic running now, we'd have the first example of a before and after athlete to determine whether or not these Cheetah legs are advantageous.
----- wrote:
I'd love to see him get into prosthetic running now, .....
This was my first thought, to find some bright moment in the kid's story. Someone posted on the thread about him being missing that the greater lack of Vitamin D in winter up there would have a greater effect on those with darker skin. I hope the UAA coach seriously examines this possibility.
This is very sad. He's fortunate to have just lost his feet, though. Being outdoors in Alaska with no gloves and a light jacket for two days would probably kill most people.
Jesse was indeed a friend wrote:
Old Gregg wrote:"While I am still recovering -- both physically and emotionally -- I will do my very best to give back to the community that has helped me so much and to my home country, Kenya.
"I sincerely apologize for any problems that I might have caused."
Jesus, we could all hope to be so humble. Apologizing for getting lost in a blizzard, nearly dying, and losing your feet?
Maybe he was apologizing because he was trying to end his life...I don't know, but I wish him the best. It sounds as if he was struggling with the loss of his teammate and perhaps other things.
If you knew anyone from Kenya you would understand their mentality is very different from ours. He simply meant he was regretful for all the attention he has brought to himself. Kenyans are ingrained to be servants rather than served. I don't write that in a derogatory way, but, rather, to say, he never wanted all this and feels bad for having caused the things he did. I suspect he was bummed and wanted to go outside and walk around (something very normal in Kenya) to deal with what was going on and got turned around. The rest, we all know about.
Constant tirades? You must have me confused with someone. I had many foreigners on my team in college, they were always my favorite people! Nothing like someone getting a chance at an education through whatever means possible. I've been defending Lalang left and right on here...
I've personally seen what happens to *most* Kenyans when in the cold. We had a national champion transfer away because of how unhappy she was.
You are right I don't know them, but I've seen similar situations (personally) and believe that this could become a continuing pattern. Not trying to upset people, I realized when writing this I was being a bit ignorant, but I don't think I'm completely off base.
Common sense people. No one is picking on Kenyans, or any foreigners that I see. Its just not in the athletes interest to send them to Alaska. The lure of that UAA education is not worth it. This is a terrible mix for these young men.