Brookfield/Elm Grove Monthly

Page 8 • Freeman Brookfield & Elm Grove JUNE 2015 243294002 By Pat Neumuth Freeman Staff BROOKFIELD — Emily Oberst was told she was never going to run after being diag- nosed with Ewing's sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer. Oberst, a junior at Brook- field Central High School, was a gifted athlete in the youth ranks, but her athletic career was in jeopardy following her successful battle with cancer. Despite several leg surg- eries, she was able to work toward walking well enough to play golf. Oberst was then approached by Milwaukee Heat coach Bob Anger about playing wheelchair basket- ball. She had never seen it played before, and she had some doubts whether or not she wanted to play. "Honestly, I thought it was going to be some slow sport where people push super slow back and forth, where they can barely make a basket," Oberst said. "And I thought the baskets were going to be lower. I just thought it was not going to be intense at all." Oberst also never thought she would ever be a college athlete — let alone be a sought after prospect. Oberst, who can run and ski although her doctor told her she would never do so again, instantly fell in love with wheelchair basketball at first sight. She first saw the game played two years ago, and Oberst is one of the most sought-after wheelchair bas- ketball prospects in the nation. This comes on the heels of leading the Milwau- kee Heat to fifth place in the National Championship Tour- nament where she was select- ed All-American Female MVP for the tournament. "She is quite an athlete, and this is an incredible accom- plishment given that it is only her second year playing wheelchair basketball," Anger said. It started when her left shin started to hurt. Then Oberst started to sleep more than normal, so she just brushed it all off and dealt with the pain for a few weeks. It got more painful, so she went to her doctor for an X-ray. "They said, 'OK, this is a lit- tle weird. I think we need to send you to an orthopedic sur- geon,'" Oberst said about her first doctor visit. "They did a biopsy and thought most like- ly it wasn't cancerous." But the biopsy came back cancerous, and it took more than a year of chemotherapy and five surgeries on her leg for her to beat the disease. "They told me I could never run, ski or play sports again," Oberst said. "That kind of wrecked my world. That was everything to me." Before cancer, all Oberst did was play sports. She competed in basketball, softball, golf, track and field and skiing. "When I got cancer, I thought I would never play sports again," she said. "When I found out I could play golf, a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I could kind of get back to the old me because I loved sports." Oberst competes for the Brookfield Central golf team after getting an exemption from the WIAA to use a cart. She has worked hard enough and her mother, Melissa, thinks she could walk nine holes and play — but not 18 yet. Golf actually got Oberst into wheelchair basketball when Anger saw a newspaper article about Oberst playing golf. Melissa Oberst recalls first seeing wheelchair basketball and thought she owed it to Anger to at least watch a prac- tice because he diligently recruited her daughter to play. "Literally within the first five minutes, Emily's eyes brightened up and said, 'I want to do this,'" Melissa Oberst said. "The athleticism of these kids was huge, and Emily was athletic prior to her disease." "Hard work and determina- tion," Emily Oberst said. "Before wheelchair basket- ball and my medical history, I played able-body basketball. I had the shot, and when I was introduced to wheelchair bas- ketball I took my form and applied it to sitting down and upper body strength and voila, I'm kind of good at this sport." Emily Oberst averaged 18 points and 13 rebounds per game at the National Champi- onships. Scoring is something that she could do from Day 1. "She's a natural," Anger said. "She's getting better and better as we go. Her range is improving. She didn't have to adjust much because of her natural ability to shoot." There were some differ- ences that Emily Oberst need- ed to adjust to. As someone who isn't permanently in a chair, the most obvious part of the game was the chair itself. Anger said she is still getting used to it, and the wheelchair game has some subtle differ- ences compared with able- body basketball. "In wheelchair basketball, you have to stop a chair to play defense," Emily Oberst said. "You have to be really quick with your turns, and in able-body basketball you are able to see the whole court. In wheelchair basketball, you only look at your player. After playing able-body basketball, I was so used to watching the player and the ball. You have to rely on our teammates to tell you where the ball is." Anger said there are four other players from the Mil- waukee Heat team who can walk. That's one of the com- mon misconceptions about the sport and is a stigma that Anger tries to break on a daily basis. "I can run, sort of," Emily Oberst said. "I can jog, I guess. Not long distance, maybe a quarter of a mile." There are three other play- ers on the co-ed team who have survived Ewing's sarco- ma. They don't really talk about their struggles in beat- ing cancer. Instead, they use humor to connect with each other. "We mainly just joke about it with each other," Emily Oberst said. "We've all been through it and know what it's like. We know it's OK to make fun of each other for it. People who haven't gone through it are scared to talk about it. Us three who've had it joke about it, and it's kind of funny. We will have races where we run. We all run with a limp, and we race across the room and see who will win. We look dumb doing it (she said laughing)." Melissa Oberst has been very instrumental in her daughter's wheelchair basket- ball career. The Heat never had a home tournament until this year. Melissa Oberst set up the inaugural Big Cheese Tournament, which was held at Brookfield Central, and served as the tournament director. That success also got the Heat to host the Midwest Conference Championship. Emily Oberst said she is very thankful for her mom giving up a lot of things to get involved with her wheelchair basketball career. "My main motivation was to raise awareness," Melissa Oberst said. "There are so many people like Emily that could or should be playing this sport but don't know or realize how competitive or athletic it is." Melissa Oberst also wanted her daughter and the rest of the Milwaukee Heat to play at home, to showcase their game for their peers. There were more than 500 people at the two-day Big Cheese Tourna- ment. Emily Oberst got a sim- ilar experience to the girls on the Lancers basketball team, playing in front of their high school friends on their home court. Emily Oberst never thought she was going to be a college athlete, even before her battle with cancer. Melissa Oberst was also shocked there were college coaches at the Nation- al Tournament there to see her daughter play. "I want to go all the way," Emily Oberst said. "I hopeful- ly want to be in the Para- lympics some day. I really want to play in college. I want to work hard to get there. "I never expected wheelchair basketball to be a college thing. Now I'm hear- ing you can get scholarships. It's weird, but it's cool. To have these opportunities for disabled kids to play a sport and get scholarships and all that stuff, it's awesome." Beating cancer has given Emily Oberst a wider look at life. Sports has been a posi- tive part in her life, but she no longer thinks it's life. "After cancer, I learned it isn't that important at all," Emily Oberst said about sports. "Your health is more important. The little things in life are more important than a game of basketball. School is more important. God and religion are more important. Life is not all about sports." Sports may not be as important as it once was in Emily Oberst's life, but it's still an integral part. She plays because it's fun. She also hopes other disabled people never quit on their athletic endeavors. "Come out and try it," Emily Oberst said. "We are looking for lots of people to play basketball, so if there's anyone with a disability to really come try it. It's not what everyone thinks it is. From a medical prospective, stay strong and you will get through anything — and I promise there's always light at the end of the tunnel." Email: pneumuth@conleynet.com No slowing Central's Oberst down Submitted photo Brookfield Central junior Emily Oberst has turned into a standout player in wheelchair basket- ball after being diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma and told she would never run again.

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