Approximately one year ago, on February 10th, 2023, the 8th graders from all over the Pembroke Pines Charter came to visit PPCHS for the high-school orientation. Overall, it was a very informative and well-planned event that went fairly smoothly, as always. “It was fine,” said Martin Petkov, a student from Academic Village Middle. “It felt a bit chaotic, but the guys were very friendly, going around from building to building and all the classrooms. It was a good experience overall.” However, the orientation left him not only with knowledge of his soon-to-be school, but also with a dislocated knee and an ambulance trip.
After touring the social studies wing of the school, Petkov descended the stairs on the north side of the U Building. “I almost skipped a step,” he recounts. “I fell forward weirdly. And my knee already goes out to the left side when it shouldn’t, and it went a bit too far because there was a bit too much pressure, and then it was on the side of my leg.” After the fall, the other students touring with him rushed to see what they could do to help, but no one really had any idea of what to do. The group of SGA members who were guiding the middle schoolers around the campus immediately ran to find an adult. While at the bottom of the stairs, Petkov tried not to panic and began attempting to set his knee. “I kind of sat there on the ground trying to figure out what to do, and I was going to straighten it… I knew the feeling. It had happened probably half a dozen times before then.”
At 12:36 PM, Mrs. Alongi arrived at the scene to help. “It was a big group of the SGA kids, they knew I was the athletic trainer, so they came running down the hallway screaming,” she recounted. “I [then] just held his knee still. If he was one of my athletes, I could’ve put his knee back into place, but since he wasn’t one of mine, I just held his knee still until we got the paramedics here.” She cleared out all the students around the area with the help of Security. He was then transported via ambulance to a local emergency room to set his knee, complaining later about the “insane” price of the ambulance ride.
It turns out that this wasn’t the first time this has happened. Petkov’s had genetic issues with his knees all his life, but this time was serious enough for everyone to begin to get medical help for them. After being rushed to the ER, his knee was set and by the next week, he was able to walk again with the aid of a leg brace, which severely hindered his school trip to Washington D.C. the next week. However, with a lot of perseverance, he managed through and made it with his injured knee until he could get surgery over the summer to fix it once and for all.
He had to be in crutches for about a month, but was out of them by the time he was back to school. Over winter break, he got surgery for his other knee, to make sure that that one wouldn’t pop out either. Petkov was once again in a leg brace for a while, but now he is finally able to walk normally without any crutches, braces, or fear of his knees dislocating again. “I am no longer in constant stress that I might step wrong and my knee might fly out,” he says. He’s still doing physical therapy to this day.
Martin Petkov’s bit of advice for future 9th graders taking the stairs: “Don’t skip any steps.”
