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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7TH www.langleycruise-in.com
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Langley’s Jack Kosterman is on his way to Turkey, to represent Canada at the world U23 wheelchair basketball championship GARY AHUJA Times Sports
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ack Kosterman doesn’t want to be anyone’s inspiration or even a trailblazer — changing people’s perceptions about wheelchair athletes. “I am not inspirational,” Kosterman said, sitting in the living room of his family’s Fort Langley home. Summarizing the thoughts of Pat Anderson, one of the top wheelchair basketball players in the world, and one of Kosterman’s role models, Kosterman said: “Inspiration is a double-edged sword. “On one hand, it is, ‘Oh wow, you are a great wheelchair basketball player.’ “But on the other hand, it is, ‘You are good, for someone like you.’” ••• Watching Kosterman move around, you wouldn’t believe he requires a wheelchair and is one of Canada’s top wheelchair basketball players. Kosterman, who turned 15 earlier this summer, is able to walk without the aid of a cane, crutches or wheelchair. He can walk short distances with no problems, but the longer he walks, the more he starts to feel a lingering pain. “It gets inflamed really quickly,” he explained. With a family history of knee problems, and having been overweight as a child, when Kosterman experienced knee pain he didn’t put much thought into it. But when he was 10, he slipped on the bottoms of his pyjamas, and the resulting fall broke his growth plate and dislocated his femur, which connects the leg to the hip. It was the worst pain he ever felt. Kosterman learned he has avascular necrosis, or AVN, a disease where there is cellular death of bone components, due to the interruption of the blood supply. Without blood, the bone tissue dies and the bone collapses. He has a pin in each hip and while a semi-experimental drug, Pamidronate, has slowed down the deterioration, Kosterman expects he will need “a few” hip replacements in his lifetime. ••• Kosterman has always loved sports and one day dreamed about playing professionally. He began playing basketball, among other sports, when he was five, and was just starting to get into rugby prior to the deterioration of his hip. Being in a wheelchair is not very conducive to playing sports. Kosterman admits he went through the ‘why me’ phase. “More than I would have liked to,” he said. continued, PAGE 11 photo courtesy www.sombilon.com
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