Mishicot's Adam Backus thankful for senior football season after life-threatening injury

MISHICOT — Adam Backus isn’t one to complain.

The Mishicot football player went up for a ball in practice on defense last October, colliding with another teammate and taking a knee to the side.

As Backus laid on the field, teammates initially teased him to get up thinking no way he was seriously hurt. Fast forward to later that evening, the then-junior was in a hospital room in Green Bay being surrounded by doctors as his vitals crashed and his mother was escorted out of the room.

Tests revealed Backus had suffered a grade 5 splenic rupture, which is when the spleen is either shattered or complete devascularization of the entire organ takes place.

Fortunately, Backus made a full recovery, even competing in the pole vault during track and field in the spring and resuming football in the fall. He was even named small school honorable mention all-state as a defensive back by the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association.

His brother and football teammate, sophomore Benjamin Backus, thinks what Adam went through is remarkable.

“It’s amazing to me,” Benjamin said of his brother returning to the field. “If I had a life-threatening injury I’d be pretty freaked out so for him to keep playing the sport he loves is pretty incredible.”

‘I came to in a room and started crashing’

Everything seemed routine about the hit at first, said Mishicot football coach Kevin Fix.

“You thought he just got the wind knocked out of him, he’d be fine,” Fix said. “It’s definitely one, as a coach in my 20 plus years, I’ve never encountered in a game let alone a practice.”

There were signs, Adam Backus says, of the trouble ahead.

“Every time I tried to get up I felt like I was going to vomit,” Backus said. “It was rough for me.”

Added Fix: “By the time we got him into the trainers room it just wasn’t looking right.”

The athletic trainer suspected Backus injured his ribs but couldn’t rule out an injury to the spleen so he suggested Backus go to the hospital to err on the side of caution.

Backus’ mother was already at the school watching his sisters' volleyball match, so she drove him to the hospital in Green Bay.

During the drive, Backus wondered if he was making a big deal of nothing but soon realized it was worse than he imagined.

“I was feeling better and thought I was overreacting but then in the waiting room I passed out,” Backus said. “I came to in a room and started crashing, my mom was forced out of the room and I just saw doctors coming in.”

With his abdomen full of blood, he was sent to surgery to repair the damage and spent a week in the ICU.

Even though he suffered life-threatening injuries, Backus almost immediately began planning his return to the football field.

“After my procedure, one of the first questions I had was if I would be able to play football again,” Backus said. “Coming back this year was everything to me.”

Road to recovery

Football served as an inspiration to Backus as he recuperated in the hospital.

Mishicot played Sturgeon Bay on the Saturday after his injury, and his brother Benjamin, then a freshman, was making his first varsity start at safety in Adam’s place.

Adam Backus watched the game and felt better, for the most part, as Mishicot lost 41-24.

“It helped me a little bit in the hospital watching other people continue to do what I love doing,” Backus said. “My heart rate kept going up as I watched the game so my mom threatened to turn it off.”

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After an initial return to action in January was pushed back until February, Backus was itching to be medically cleared for contact and the pole vault.

“In my mind I was just excited to go back and do anything close to normal,” Backus said. “My mom on the other hand was a little less for it. I was so excited to go to practice and just hold the pole in my hands and run, feel the little bend in the pole. It felt great.”

Fix, too, was concerned.

“Alright, now you’re going to go up on this pole while we’re still worried about this spleen injury,” Fix said.

He didn't need to worry. Backus not only participated, he qualified for sectionals in pole vault, finishing ninth at the WIAA Division 3 Marathon sectional in late May. He also was a part of three relay teams, his brother by his side as well in all three.

Track gave him the confidence that he would be ready come August when it was time to start his senior season of football.

‘The best feeling in the world’

Fix says Backus being able to play football was never a guarantee.

“You don’t know if you’re ever going to play again, if the doctor will let you,” Fix said.

And even if he did come back, there was the question to the level of which he’d play.

Backus was second team all-Packerland Conference at defensive back and punter while being honorable mention at offensive end (receiver) as a junior.

As a senior Backus was even better, rushing for almost 500 yards and scoring seven touchdowns while being moved to running back. He also intercepted five passes and made 59 tackles, both higher than his numbers as a junior.

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Benjamin Backus never wavered in his faith that his brother would pull through and come back to the team.

“I know this was special to him,” Benjamin said of football. “Some people might be super frightened but I just knew he would pull through. Adam is a fighter.”

The football team also bought new compression shirts for the skill players to try and prevent injuries like the one Adam Backus suffered. Fix says they have been dubbed the “Adam Backus shirts.”

It's important, Fix says, to look for the positives in every situation.

“Feel terrible when those injuries happen but it also brings us closer together,” Fix said.

Backus agrees and is thankful to have gotten the chance to finish his senior season playing the sport he says he has played nearly every day of his life.

“In the hospital you’re thinking about what could all go wrong but to be back doing what I love is the best feeling in the world,” Backus said.

Contact Tom Dombeck at 920-686-2965 or tdombeck@htrnews.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @Tom_Dombeck.

This article originally appeared on Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: Mishicot's Adam Backus thankful for football after ruptured spleen