POSTED: SEPT. 12, 2008

Holly Cottom, Class of 2009

It was the end of the summer, and Brandon Burchfield was filling his time with preparations for his senior year of Spider football.













While lifting weights at the Sportscenter, Burchfield encountered great misfortune. Nearing the end of a ‘power out' - an intense final set of dun bell lifts, he slammed the 90-pound weights downward.













Unaware that 60-pound weights were still sitting at his feet, Burchfield smashed the two heavyweights together, his finger in the middle. Not only did the collision crush the finger bones into eight pieces, it sliced the end joint to a point of near amputation.













The end on the finger was almost lost. Instead, the now-damaged joint dangled by a tiny nerve bundle on the right side of the finger.













A two hour surgery, including reattaching, stitching, cleaning, and inserting pins, saved Burchfield from amputation.























"If I had lost my finger I would have felt deserving of the consequences," Burchfield said. "It was my fault that it happened, due to carelessness. And I have learned my lesson about using a spotter in the weight room."























Burchfield takes an optimistic approach when he thinks about what might have happened.



















"While I would have been able to get back to the football season sooner, losing my finger would have been a perminant handicap, and may have seriously impacted my tennis career for the worst."













Although Burchfield will need a miracle to regain motion in the finger joint, he and his family are praying.













Brandon missed the first two football games of his senior year, but he started in the Sept. 12 game against Piedmont.

Comment on this story or talk to Holly by visiting her blog.