Karsten Breiner is right where he expected to be this winter.
 
That’s on the basketball court with his closest friends trying to lead Wabaunsee to a Class 1A Division I state championship.
 
But Breiner’s journey to seeing his senior season through is one of extraordinary determination, perseverance and, quite frankly, improbability.
 
Seven months ago, a severe car accident drastically impacted just how Breiner’s senior season would play out. But the fact that it didn’t prevent it is a testament to Breiner, this week’s CapFed® True Blue® Student of the Week.
 
“It was pretty much, I was doing it,” Breiner said of playing sports his senior season. “I was going to play basketball and I hoped to play football. I was going to do whatever it took.”
 

 
A part of a tight-knit senior group of senior boys at Wabaunsee this school year, Breiner had been looking forward to his final run with them since last season ended. The Chargers returned almost every starter in football and four of five starters in basketball with the hoops team putting together a solid 15-7 season a year ago.
 
In late June, however, Breiner’s senior season – not to mention his life – almost came to a tragic end.
 
Spending the summer working for a fence company in Maple Hill, Breiner was on his way to work early on the morning of June 20. It was a short trip, just 14 miles from his house, but on this day, Breiner fell asleep at the wheel.
 
He was jarred awake when his truck’s tires caught the edge of the road and before he could correct and get back on the road, his truck slammed into a guard rail. The rail tore right through the front end of his truck and strapped into his seat belt, Breiner couldn’t avoid when it made impact with his lower left leg, shearing off his foot from the heel forward.
 
“I remember everything from right before I saw the guard rail to Boom! hitting it,” Breiner said. “After that, I remember everything. At first, I didn’t have any pain because of the adrenaline.”
 
The impact spun the driver’s seat of the truck 180 degrees and left Breiner on top of the center console with his right foot trapped underneath the seat. He was able to free his foot and his instinct was to get up. But at that point, he fully grasped how critical the situation was.
 
“There was a lot of blood coming out so I sat in the passenger seat and I ripped the air bag off and wrapped it around my leg real tight,” Breiner said. “I put a tourniquet on it until (the paramedics) got there.”
 
Fortunately for Breiner, a man had been following him on the highway and had stopped and called 911. Help arrived quickly and after some initial attention, Breiner wound up being life-flighted to the Univeristy of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City.
 
“I’m a pretty faithful guy, try to go to church every Sunday, so I was grateful there was someone behind me on the road and that Maple Hill wasn’t far away so the cop got there right away,” Breiner said. “It saved a lot of blood because I had already lost a decent amount. It wasn’t life-threatening yet, but if they hadn’t gotten there as fast as they did, it could have been.”
 
News of Breiner’s accident quickly circulated throughout the Wabaunsee community.
 
“I was actually mowing my lawn and I got a call from my sister and she was asking where Karsten’s parents were,” Wabaunsee senior Cole Frank said. “I said I didn’t know and asked, ‘Why? Is everything all right?’ And she said, ‘No, he’s been in a really bad accident and is getting life-flighted to KU.’ I just broke down and was freaking out. It was scary.”
 
Breiner’s parents, Chad and Megan, were in San Antonio when the accident occurred, but Breiner’s grandparents were able to get to the hospital to be with him. He had an immediate surgery to clean out the heel and leg. There was initial discussion to try to re-attach Breiner’s left foot, but there had been too much damage for it to be a viable option.
 
After his initial surgery, Breiner had another one two days later to further clean the affected area. And at that point, Breiner was given options to what he could do with his left foot and leg.
 
One option was to attach a prosthetic foot to the existing heel. The other was an amputation of his left leg mid-shin, giving him a full-foot prosthetic that would attach to his leg.
 
With the urgency of the situation, Breiner didn’t exactly have a long time to make a decision that completely affected his future. And with all the thoughts running through his mind, playing sports his senior season at Wabaunsee was at the forefront of them.
 
“It was really hard,” he said. “I had two options and I just sat there after they told me for like an hour just thinking. I could keep all of my leg and just not have that much motion with my foot. But if I wanted to be mobile again, I was probably going to have to have them amputate some of my leg. My dad asked me if I wanted to keep most of my leg or do you want to be really mobile again. I knew if I wanted to play basketball, what I was going to have to do. That pretty much made up my mind.”
 
On June 25, Breiner had a six and a half hour surgery to amputate his left leg below the knee. For the next two days, he said “it was the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life.”
 
While Breiner was in surgery, Wabaunsee basketball coach Tim Klein got an unexpected call.
 
“The morning his leg was amputated his grandfather called me and said, ‘Coach, Karsten wanted me to call you and tell you that he will be back for basketball,’” Klein said. “A month later, I’m at his house and I said, ‘Are you gonna do this?’ and he said, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna do this!’ I said, ‘OK, if it’s going to happen I’m not going to baby you or anything, you’re going to have to work for everything.’ And he told me, “I do, I wanna work for everything.’
 
“He’s just that way. He doesn’t use his disability as a crutch. He’s probably got the most courage and grit of anyone I’ve ever had.”
 
Klein saw that same toughness in Breiner’s father, Chad, whom he had coached during his first stint as Wabaunsee’s head coach.
 
“They’re both fighters and don’t back down, work hard at everything they do,” Klein said. “He was raised on a ranch and knows what hard work is. And that’s why he’s gotten back to where he is. That was his goal.”
 
That goal was something that set in almost immediately and kind of caught his friends a bit by surprise.
 
Frank remembered his first visit to see Breiner at the hospital – where he was from June 20 to July 1.
 
“You walked in there and there’s your childhood friend with the biggest smile on his face after being in something that nobody could imagine being in,” Frank said. “Walking in there and him having a smile from ear to ear, it was just awesome to see him like that. It definitely did lift us quite a bit. He wasn’t worried about how it was going to affect him. He was already looking like, ‘OK, I’m going to have to live with this and this is how it’s going to be from now on so I might as well get used to it. I’m not going to dwell on it, I’m just going to be the best version of myself with this injury.’ How quickly he flipped that switch is just awesome. It’s inspiring.”
 
If that was inspiring, Breiner’s journey since has been even more so.
 
He got his first prosthetic on Aug. 21 and got around with the help of a walker as he got used to it, dealing with the different pressures the prosthetic had on his leg. Once he was mobile, Breiner set his sights on returning to athletics.
 
And at the forefront was trying to get back on the football field.
 
“It’s my favorite sport,” Breiner said. “I wanted to play so bad.”
 
What seemed impossible – playing football four months after his accident – became a reality. Breiner began working out in practices, taking part in various drills and then while the rest of the team did conditioning, Breiner would do what he could off to the side.
 
“I was pretty cautious at first,” Breiner said. “I didn’t want to hurt myself any further. With the newly adapted prosthetic I had to work through, it was mentally challenging.”
 
But his determination took over. Breiner also began physical therapy in Topeka in October and what was supposed to be an eight-week course wound up being just five weeks as he progressed so quickly.
 
On Oct. 31, Breiner got back on the football field in the Chargers’ postseason game against Riverside. Playing nose guard, he logged about one-third of the defensive snaps in the game.
 
“First play back gets a tackle for loss on a guy we couldn’t tackle all night,” Frank said. “I’m like, ‘This guy is different.’”
 

 
One goal achieved, Breiner then set his sights on not only being on the basketball court this winter, but playing meaningful minutes for the Chargers. He said he began to fully trust his leg and prosthetic in early December and he slowly worked his way back into basketball shape.
 
“It was hard getting back,” he said. “That first week (of PT) I was really cautious because I knew they were going to push me. And I’m glad they did. They re-taught me how to sprint. I don’t get this flexion as much. It’ll bend and will turn, but I don’t have it on command.
 
“I really had to re-learn most of my post moves. My first game back , the running up and down really got to me. I wasn’t in shape yet. Especially when I get down low, I had to re-teach myself what to do. But every time out it gets better and better.”
 
Breiner kept progressing and returned to the starting lineup on Jan. 16 against Mission Valley. He’s now playing significant minutes for the Chargers and is back to being as close to normal as could possibly be expected.
 
“It’s not like he’s getting clean up minutes for us now,” Klein said. “He’s out there starting an being a big part of what we do. As a coach you have to be careful not to keep limitations on him. He just grinds it out every day.
 
“it’s an incredible story, his recovery. His first football game was Oct. 31. I watched it online and they’re playing a five-man front with him at nose guard and pretty soon the other team is doubling him. It was crazy to watch. But you watched him play and you could hardly tell he had anything wrong.”
 
Frank agreed.
 
“It’s unreal,” he said. “I’m confident you wouldn’t see this from anybody else. But Karsten is that kind of guy. He’s an energy guy who brings everything to the table. Just seeing him want to figure out how he can be back out on the basketball court with his guys and impact the team, it’s just awesome and inspiring.
 
“He doesn’t complain and comes in every day and works hard and gives it everything he got. He’s tough and he has a mindset like nobody else has. He’s different.”
 

 
Even though this is what Breiner set out to accomplish, he admitted even he’s a bit surprised where he’s at.
 
“I’m really happy with myself, but also surprised at the same time,” he said. “But that’s what I wanted to do and I put my mind to it. I just wanted to be able to play with the guys.
 
“I have a lot of supportive people around me. My family and all my buddies. We’ve got a really tight senior class and they just really helped me through with the initial part. June, July all the way up until school started I was just hanging out and healing and just in my own thoughts. But they were always out there. It just feels really good being out there and I’m happy I pushed myself to be there.”
 
Breiner has become so acclimated with being back on the court doing what he loves that normalcy has set in.
 
“Sometimes I completely forget what happened because I’m so used to it by now,” he said. “I was at my little brother’s basketball game last week and a mom and her kid came up to me and was like, I want you to meet this kid.’ She said, ‘He’s really looking up to you.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, my leg!  And I play basketball.’ Because I just forget about it. It’s crazy because I know most of my teammates look up to me now, too. I try to be a good example and inspire people.”