Shane St. Onge doesn’t like to be dramatic, but the truth is, he really could have died that summer day in 2010 when his truck ran off the road while logging and crashed into the forest.
“That wreck could have been way worse,” the Glacier High School senior said. “It was just inches from being – I don’t want to say fatal – but way worse. I’m lucky.”
The accident caved in the truck’s cab to the degree that responders had to use Jaws of Life to reach St. Onge. He doesn’t remember any of this because of his concussion. But he clearly remembers how he felt when he realized his shattered femur would keep him sidelined for his junior football season. That was an entirely different kind of pain, and it cut to his core.
“I couldn’t play and I was captain,” he said.
Rather than dwell on his misfortune, St. Onge rehabbed intensely and prepared for wrestling season. Even though his left leg ached and was still weak, adjusting to the presence of a titanium rod, he managed to wrestle his way to a second-place state finish in the Class AA 152-pound division.
Entering his senior year, St. Onge was confident for both football and wrestling. His leg had regained its strength and no longer ached. He was ready. And then, suddenly, he was back in the hospital after suffering a large blood clot in his right shoulder.
St. Onge recalls that he was lifting weights when he felt a sensation in his shoulder. He ignored it and continued lifting.
“Then somebody noticed that my arm was purple and it was huge,” St. Onge said.
After an ultrasound determined he had a blood clot, St. Onge was in surgery the following morning to have the clot removed. The official diagnosis was Paget-Schroetter Syndrome, caused in this case, St. Onge was told, by a muscle in his shoulder getting too bulky.
Again, his football season was done. And all signs pointed to his wrestling season – his final chance at a state title – being ruined as well.
“When the doctor said I wasn’t going to be able to wrestle, gosh, that just tore me apart,” he said. “Everything I was working for these last 12 years just went away.”
But he remained unfazed and made sure to take every bit of advice from the doctor to heart, adhering to a regimen of blood thinners, specific dieting and – perhaps the most difficult for the fitness enthusiast – time off from weightlifting.
“I couldn’t lift on the blood thinner so I just ran a lot,” he said. “I was on blood thinner for three months. I was supposed to be on it longer but I told them I wanted to wrestle.”
And here he is, deep into his senior season, ranked second in the state at 160 pounds and very much in the hunt for his coveted first state title. He still has to regularly take baby aspirin, instead of the blood thinner, along with other precautions, including not bulking up his shoulders. He’s been told there’s a chance the clot could happen again.
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Shane St. Onge, right, wrestles with Cooper Sipe during practice at Glacier High School. |
St. Onge’s ability to recover from two traumatic injuries and be in the hunt for a state title is a testament to his work ethic and attitude, Glacier head wrestling coach Mark Fischer said.
“There’s nobody that works harder than him, in season or out,” Fischer said. “He’s always in that weight room and working hard and leading by example. He’s probably one of the best leaders we’ve ever had.”
After watching St. Onge battle back to health following his auto accident in 2010, Fischer said there was “a lot of emotion” involved with seeing the young man have to do it all over again this year. It was particularly emotional because it appeared St. Onge was going to miss wrestling as well as football.
“Everybody thought for sure that he was absolutely done with wrestling,” Fischer said. “I couldn’t hold it back when I had to talk to his mom after it happened, knowing he was done with football and most likely done with wrestling. It was a huge deal, especially for a kid who works so hard.”
“We’re just extremely thankful to have him the last two years,” Fischer added, “because it’s pretty amazing what’s he gone through.”
St. Onge maintains a 4.0 GPA, takes six AP classes and is active in the school theater. Also the student body president and reigning homecoming king, he thinks he’ll go into pre-law, likely at the University of Montana.
But he obviously has no intentions to rest on his many laurels – he just wants to add to them. The ultimate goal would be to win both an individual and team state title. Glacier finished second last year, while the one wrestler ahead of St. Onge in the individual 160-pound rankings is Billings Senior’s Ben Sulser, who beat him in the 152-pound championship match last year.
St. Onge wants to follow through with something he remembers saying to his doctor.
“I told him I want to be with the team and lead them to a state championship.”