This guy named Ryan Brannan who marched in Carolina Crown drum corps is one of my role models.
"At the beginning of finals week, he started to have some pain in his left leg, just below the knee. The staff kept him off the field during many rehearsals while he kept ice on his leg. The night of semifinals, he stayed on the bus during ceremonies to honor participants who have “aged out” or reached the age limit of the activity and to honor alumni.
Brannan said that Gaulke, who wanted to attend the ceremonies, stayed with him on the bus.
“I felt bad,” Gaulke said. “He shouldn’t have been the only one sitting on the bus.”
“Everyone knew something was wrong with me,” Brannan said. The staff even discussed his options the day of finals. They had the option of putting an alternate performer into his spot, but Brannan had his leg taped up from the knee down. He hoped the adrenaline of performing would take his mind off the pain.
He made it through most of the show, despite what he describes as a “whole new level of pain.”
During the last song of the show, just moments before it ended and the crowd went wild, Brannan fell down.
His first thought was, “I have to get back up.” He tried and even tried to use his instrument as a crutch, but he went down again. He had to be carried off the field.
One of the staff members told him later that he kept saying, “I wanted to finish the show.”
He was taken to the hospital and needed surgery. Brannan said doctors think it was probably a stress fracture."
