Duran won't be different.
By Doug Quinn
For the Broken Arrow Daily Ledger
Life is good for Michael Duran. He’s playing football and "that’s all I’ve ever wanted to do." The Broken Arrow High School junior is a happy young man with big, brown eyes and a bright smile.
Duran approaches football practice each day with a fervor. "I can’t imagine being anywhere but at the stadium (Memorial Stadium) every day at 2:40," Duran said. "Why would you want to be anywhere else?" He’s surrounded by his football buddies and good friends.
In every way, Duran could be a typical 17-year old, who aspires to play football. There’s something special about this young man, who by all rights, shouldn’t be playing sports.
When Duran was 10 years old, he lost the lower portion of his left leg and three toes on his right foot after contracting an infection. It’s nothing short of a miracle Duran is alive, much less playing football. He’s a living testimony to the spirit of life. "I heard the doctors tell my parents they had to amputate, there was no other choice," Duran said. "They were supposed to take my parents into the hallway and tell them. Instead, they just said everything in front of everybody.
When you’re 10, a lot of things go through your mind 24/7 – I won’t be normal, people are going to notice me … all those things." Amputation was going to be the best chance," he said. "We had two choices," Duran said. The other was being wheelchair-bound.
Having come within reach of death in grade school and being in a coma for a week, Duran has a stronger will than most. "I decided I wasn’t going to be different," Duran said. The son of Nararia and Robert Duran, he began a painful rehabilitation program through St. John Hospital. "I took baby steps, really, at first," Duran said. "Look now, I am running, lifting weights and playing football. But, what I did, I did hard and I did my best."
There was more. He was taken to Texas for extensive surgery on the sole of his right foot – and more rehab.
Duran, a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, doesn’t seek attention and doesn’t perceive he has limitations. He’s made it clear he doesn’t want sympathy.
When Duran went out for eighth-grade football, he approached Childers Middle School coach Harold Hamilton. "I told Coach Hamilton I wasn’t any different than any of the other guys," Duran said. "I didn’t want him to cut me any slack. If I didn’t go hard, make me go again." Duran hasn’t slacked but "has gotten chewed on for not doing things right and got what I deserved."
He’s keenly aware some people are uncomfortable when they first see the artificial limb. "I don’t try to hide it because it’s a part of me," Duran said. "But, I don’t want people staying away."
If anything, Duran hasn’t lost his sense of humor. "When we’re stretching in football, coach will say ‘left leg over right," Duran said. "I’ll take my left off and set it there."
He tried a prank on some new student trainers this fall. "We have some rookies," Duran said, breaking into a fun-loving grin. "I went into the training room saying, ‘I have shin splints and need to ice down my left leg.’ It didn’t work but I came close to getting ice."
When he plays, Duran wears a special protective wrap around his left leg. His biggest fear is reoccurring blisters under his right foot, which keep him out of practice and games. "I don’t like missing even a practice," Duran said. "I see those other guys out there giving 110 percent all the time; I want to be out there with them."
