At the age of 5, Gabby Koon began swimming at Riviera Swim Club. Throughout her 12 club seasons, Koon has won most of her events.
Koon had many positive experiences throughout her swimming career, one of which was winning the 2021-2022 sectional in the 50-yard freestyle.
But at her divisional meet in seventh grade, she experienced extreme shoulder pain that caused her to miss out on swimming for the duration of the weekend.
The following week, Koon began swimming lightly to recover from this pain. Fortunately, the pain went away that week.
The summer following eighth grade, Koon began to practice two to three times a day to prepare for her first high school season. She was able to bear the occasional shoulder pain throughout the summer and set herself up for success in her high school career.
When Koon first visited the doctor for her shoulder pain, she was told that it was just growing pain. She tried her best to swim until the end of the season, but the pain became unbearable.
Koon pushed through the championship meets, divisionals and senior state before her first appointment at OrthoIndy. The MRI scans came back completely normal, and the reason for the pain was still unknown. Koon took the doctor’s advice and took two weeks off from swimming.
The pain was still prominent after two weeks. She took another visit to OrthoIndy, and while they could still not figure out a reason for the pain, they told her she couldn’t swim again.
“Throughout freshman year, my shoulder pain worsened,” Koon said. “I was out of the pool more than in the pool. I occasionally sat out at meets but kept training for sectionals. At sectionals, I won the 50 free.”
Koon was proud of her achievements from the beginning of championship season freshman year but was experiencing intense pain in her shoulder, which barely allowed her to swim.
“I pushed for one more week because Coach Josh said, ‘Let’s just make it through the state,’” Koon said. “I competed in the state, and it was so much fun. But at this point, the pain was so bad that school was getting difficult. While I continued swimming, I also saw many doctors,” Koon said.
Right before sophomore year, Koon and her family finally found a doctor who was able to diagnose her with something,
George Sheng, a thoracic surgeon at St. Vincent’s Children’s Hospital, identified the problem as Thoracic syndrome (TOS) on both sides, with the left side being worse. This rare group of disorders was causing her collarbone and first rib to squeeze together onto her nerve, making it so she felt immense pain. She was once again told she could not swim.
Koon learned that the TOS was also affecting her whole body negatively. She was experiencing intense migraines, and her hands and feet’s circulation were cut off. Her entire body turned white, and her legs went numb after swimming.
After trying physical therapy, Sheng told Koon the only way to resolve this problem was surgery.
She was told that after this surgery, the chance of her swimming again was very low. She was utterly devastated after all of her hard work and dedication.
Finally, Koon was ready to take on this surgery on her left shoulder.
During the surgery, the doctors noticed a concerning amount of blood being lost, resulting in them having to take out her entire rib and part of her pectoral minor.
The surgery took 10 hours to complete, and it wasn’t the last one she would have.
“My right shoulder continued to get worse, and I was told I needed to now have surgery on that side,” Koon said. “I was crushed because I thought I was finally getting better. During this surgery, they had to take out part of my rib.”
The news of another surgery crushed Koon. She was upset that after all of her work, she was not able to perform.
“I went back for a follow-up a few months later and was told I needed to have a third surgery, and they needed to remove the rest of my rib and part of my pec minor,” Koon said. “I felt extremely defeated because he believed that I would never be able to swim again.”
Unfortunately, Koon had three surgeries that year and missed her sophomore season. She had to take a break from swimming, which had a huge impact on her.
“I felt like I was disappointing everyone and myself,” Koon said.
Koon was disappointed, but she was passionate about being able to swim again. This was her one goal after these three surgeries.
“I went through months of physical therapy to learn how to work my shoulder again,” Koon said. “Finally, after almost 2 years, I could get into the pool again.”
Although it was a long process, Koon put in the work and learned how to focus on short-term goals and stay positive throughout.
“Junior year, I started swimming a lot more again, learned my limits, and how to push myself,” Koon said. “Today, I am still working towards getting to where I was.”
Koon recently visited Depauw and fell in love with the campus. She felt immediate support from her future coach, Tracy Menzel.
“She explained how she would push me to be the best I could but still prioritize my health, and I immediately knew this would be my school and my coach,” Koon said.
Koon officially signed on November 15 to continue her athletic and academic career at Depauw. She’s putting in her best effort to focus on her last season at NC and her first season in college.
