Blindsided: From corneas melting to signing with Southern Miss, the journey of SJ Trube

NICEVILLE — On Sept. 25 of 2022, SJ Trube accepted the fact he was going blind.

Sixteen years old. 3.8 GPA. Multi-sport junior at Niceville High. The prototypical blonde hair, blue eyed handsome All-American with a 6-foot-3 frame, his whole life ahead of him — only to be blindsided with the news that his corneas were melting.

Keratoconus, doctors called it, a condition in which your cornea — the clear, dome-shaped front of your eye — gets thinner and gradually bulges outward into a cone shape. SJ's vision was rapidly worsening by the day, one eye deteriorating to 20/80 and the other 20/70. No cure existed outside of corneal transplant surgery, and SJ wouldn't be eligible for a wait list spot until 18.

"I was devastated," said his mom, Rachel. "Once the doctor told me it was Keratoconus, I was like, 'Sh**.' I cried and cried and cried."

SJ took a different perspective.

There was no panic. No talk of "Why me?" No outburst, physically or emotionally. With nary a tear in his eye or inkling of fear in this throat as he collected his thoughts at the Eye South Center in Dothan, Alabama, he did the only thing that came naturally: Console his mom.

"Mom, it's really ok," he said. "Out of your three kids, it's best that I'm the one who has this. Maddy needs her vision for her job (football recruiting). Andy needs it so he can fly. I'll be cool. I can figure something out."

"He was so amazing about it," remembers Rachel.

The youngest of the Trube children, SJ had no clue then he'd eventually join Andy (sophomore) and Madeline (graduate school) at the University of Southern Mississippi this fall. As a Division I athlete, no less.

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Vision Problems From the Start

SJ has always struggled with reading.

As a kid, the letters never seemed to settle on a page. He rubbed his eyes constantly, and glasses and contacts did little to help. Physically, it was impossible to detect early signs of Keratoconus, which simply doesn't appear in pediatric patients until at least puberty. So on SJ went, excelling academically in spite of his struggles to focus on textbooks.

It wasn't until a routine sports physical by Dr. April Pretz in Niceville on Aug. 1 of 2022 that anything appeared out of the ordinary.

"They put up the eye chart and I couldn't read what I could 6 months ago during a physical," SJ said. "They said I needed to see my eye doctor immediately."

Four days later he went to Destin to see Dr. Shannon Fowler, who had the initial diagnosis of Keratoconus. Due to the nature of his position as a minor, no local doctor could operate or do anything. Jacksonville and Fort Lauderdale were initially pointed out as options for a referral, but then Dr. Fowler looked outside the Sunshine State and made a referral to the far-more-convenient Eye Center South in Dothan.

It took seven weeks between the initial diagnosis and SJ's trip 80 miles north to Dothan, but that simple referral would alter the course of SJ's future.

Fortuitous timing

Moments after SJ accepted his fate that late September day, the mother of all Hail Mary prayers was answered.

A research and development team from the University of Alabama at Birmingham just so happened to be at the Eye Center South that day. And their current focus just so happened to be a groundbreaking study that would treat and cure Keratoconus. Upon hearing about SJ's condition, his cornea's already looking more like a football than a sphere, they met with him immediately to get him qualified for the study headed by world renowned optometrist Dr. Sebastian Heerseenk.

But, again, one obstacle remained: his age.

He was rejected and forced to wait as his eyesight worsened. The only alternative was the stuff of horror movie torture scenes: They could scrape his corneas with a scalpel to slow down the decline, but his mom refused to even give that option a seat at the table.

Unbeknownst to them, behind the scenes optimism flowed. After all, the team had other pediatric cases on file. Come December, they accepted SJ. Come January, the study was FDA approved. As fate would have it, he'd be the first patient of 100 for this groundbreaking study — just as the track and field season dawned.

Instant Results

Everything was new in this study. From the laser created to the target audience. Literally and figuratively, SJ's results would be placed under a microscope.

So after running all the exhaustive tests and measurements starting in February — his trips to Dothan coming twice a week initially — the procedures came. They'd sedate SJ, tie him to a gurney and do their magic, combining gamma rays with riboflavin drops as part of the treatment. His right eye was treated fully. His left eye received a placebo. Afterward, there came bandaging and rebandaging.

It was long. It was exhaustive on SJ, who was constantly nauseous, sensitive to light, off-balanced and in pain as his mom could only describe the optical aftermath as a "bloody, fuchsia" mess.

But, the world was watching — doctors flying from all overseas to witness the new procedure — so SJ soldiered on and never complained.

After all, this was his last hope.

His lifeline to not going blind.

Twelve hours after the first procedure, the first eye exam affirmed his optimism. His right eye went from 20/80 to 20/25. Magically his other eye, undergoing a placebo and riboflavin, was improving too. Two weeks later, the next procedure was as much a success as the first. But there was the small task of how this would affect SJ in the ring as a discus thrower.

Finding balance

A high school discus ring has a diameter of 2.5 meters. Occurring within that is a nuanced set of movements: grip, stance, wind-up, weight distribution, footwork, explosiveness, timing and power. None of it exists without balance as male competitors spin and throw a 3.5 pound discus.

SJ couldn't walk, let alone stand at times, without losing his balance. His light sensitivity was so bad he had to wear sunglasses outside, causing some teammates to joke if he'd been drinking the night before. So Emily Webb, the architect of the best high school throws program in the entire country, had to find a solution to get his reps in.

"He was so off-balanced in the ring that I had him throwing in the cages," said Webb, who in a nine-year span has sent roughly 40 throwers to colleges. "Sometimes he'd bump into the walls."

"He'd ask me if I can go to practice, and I'd tell him he's a danger to himself, a danger to everyone," Rachel said. "And he'd say, 'Mom I want to go.' So he'd have his sunglasses on, he'd be sick and throwing up. I told him he needs to chill. The kid has no chill. But if this is keeping his mind off it, give it a shot."

SJ, Niceville's only lefty, was just in his second year of throwing, surrounded by teammates who were either state champs or on their way to a state title. Niceville didn't need him for what'd become a third straight team title in May. Yet there he was, never missing a practice outside of the day of his procedure. There he was, showing up earlier and leaving later than everyone else as he perfected his technique.

"I was like, 'This is my distraction. I need to do this instead of going home to sulk,'" SJ said. "That was my mentality for two months. I couldn't let this defeat me. I wasn't throwing as far as I knew I could, so I just kept working and working. I had to work through all the pain and nausea and wait for things to click. And that's what happened."

He broke the 130-foot barrier right before the postseason. Then came a PR of 135 feet, 7 inches at districts, good enough to qualify for regionals in fourth. Good enough for Emily Webb to effectively fight for his dream.

Bound for Hattiesburg

As SJ's PRs increased, so did his goal of throwing in college. Emily Webb knew about his siblings' home at Southern Miss, so she made it her mission to get that offer.

The sell was centered around projectability: A 6-foot-3 frame packing on muscle daily to a 190 pounds will do that.

"This offseason he's gotten stronger. Footwork and agility wise, he's had a great offseason," Webb said. "And he's not even close to hitting his growth ceiling. I think he's one of those guys, 19 or 20 years old, he'll grow into his entire stature."

Southern Miss agreed. There to break the news was Webb.

"That was one of the coolest moments when I got to Facetime him and tell him, 'Hey, they're going to take you,'" Webb said. "You got an opportunity to throw at the next level, especially after everything you've been through."

The call just so happened to coincide with news that SJ, now with 20/15 vision in his right eye and 20/30 in his left eye, had overcome his biggest reading obstacle.

"That was a special day for me. I passed my reading requirement for the SAT, and then coach Webb Facetimed me to say I'd gotten a walk-on offer for Southern Miss," said SJ, who signed with Southern Miss in early December. "She's quite honestly one of the best coaches I've ever had, probably the best. She knew the moment she met me that this kid had serious potential. And then with my work ethic and my build, we just bonded.

"She got me into Southern Miss when I didn't think I could throw in college."

"He was over the moon," Rachel said. "We were all like, 'Are you kidding me?' He couldn't even speak. And he's a chatter box."

SJ's road to recovery isn't over, though. He'll make that 80-mile trip to Dothan beginning Feb. 7 for his pre-op treatment. Soon after he'll undergo the procedures on his left eye. Understandably, he's dreading it. The pain. The nausea. The vomiting. The light sensitivity that'll force him to live in sunglasses.

But he refuses to be a victim.

"I'm nervous about it. But I've fought through this once, I can fight through it again.," SJ said. "My goals are to place at state. I just need to keep working and working."

He'll have defending state champion Terrance Powe, who threw 168 feet, five inches to capture 4A gold last May, to help push him. He'll have the prospects of a fourth straight state title pushing the Eagle men as well.

Expect SJ to contribute to that, Webb said.

"He's literally turned himself into one of the top state contenders for his senior season, and this is only his third year throwing," she said. "I'm expecting, based on his progression in the weight room and his explosiveness with all the conditioning drills, to put up huge numbers this year. I think we'll have a better figure come March, but I think you can put him on the podium this year for sure."

Told about his coach's expectations, the same glass-half-full kid who comforted his mom that September day could only laugh: "We'll see. Life just works out."

This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Niceville's SJ Trube diagnosed with Keratoconus, excels at discus