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ST. GEORGE — Conner McArthur was snowboarding during Christmas break in 2016 when he decided to go through the terrain park at Brian Head. He decided to go off a jump that he had gone off multiple times before.
“I went a little too fast and overshot the landing and I landed on my butt and back," he said, "and it hurt pretty bad. So after I landed I just laid there for a good 15 minutes.”
McArthur thought he had just bruised his back a little and tried to walk about 100 yards down the mountain until he realized he probably wasn’t going to be able to get off the mountain by himself.
McArthur, a senior at Desert Hills High School in St. George, immediately had his family take him to the emergency room in St. George where the doctors took an X-ray. The doctor said it appeared as though McArthur had a back contusion but would send the images to a radiologist.
“I thought I was going to be OK and then the doctor comes back and was like ‘this is why we send these to the radiologist just to make sure,’” he said.
That is when McArthur found out that he had instead broken his back with a spinal compression fracture in his L1 and L3 vertebras — disheartening news for a talented athlete, especially with his senior tennis season right around the corner. McArthur won the state title in doubles as a sophomore and was hoping for another championship to top off his high school career.
After a discussion with a spine specialist about his recovery, McArthur was in a brace for two months and then in physical therapy. Denise McArthur, Conner’s grandmother, said the doctors told him that he wouldn’t play tennis at all.
“(The doctor) said don’t plan on it," she said. "But after the two months they went back to see the doctor and they were very surprised at how well he had healed and that he healed immensely. To our family, it was a miracle.”
McArthur’s mother even called his recovery "a miraculous thing to witness."
From there, McArthur started to get back into tennis slowly, only missing the first few weeks of practice and the first tournament of the season. By the time region play came along, McArthur, along with his first doubles partner Josh James, were back at it.
James and McArthur went on to have a great season and even took the region title. The dynamic duo then went on to the 3A state tournament and continued to win. This past weekend, the pair made it to the title match but fell to Snow Canyon, who they had beaten a week before in the region championship.
McArthur boasted an impressive tennis season considering where he was only a few months before.
“I really hoped that I would be able to compete this season, but I really didn’t know how far we would go or even if we would do well at all,” McArthur said. “But I definitely believed that it was possible to come back, but maybe not to this extent.”
Denise McArthur contributes her grandson's success to being an "all-around good kid."
“He is just that kind of a kid," she said. "He is quiet, but he is extremely diligent. His persistence and his patience paid off. He did what he was told to do, he was careful and just did everything he could and then prayed hard.”
McArthur contributed his speedy recovery to his family and friends, saying, “It was a lot of work. (They) helped me and supported me and always were there whenever I needed anything. They made it a lot easier to come back.”
With his impressive high school tennis career over and graduation around the corner, McArthur plans on serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Roseville, California before attending BYU.
Lindsey Peterson is a Brigham Young University student studying broadcast journalism. Contact her at lindspeterson4@gmail.com or on Twitter @LindsPetey.
