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A different perspective Photo by Drew Fleming Lyndsey Bourdon cheers on the Pirates recently. Bourdon battles back from illness, is with team at state By DON HUNT Lyndsey Bourdon doesn't get on the basketball court during games too often these days, but she's not complaining. Simply sharing time with her Phoenix High teammates and coaches puts a smile on her face and warmth in her heart. Bourdon, 17, had more than a foot of her small intestine and a portion of her colon removed last November after being diagnosed with Crohn's disease. The ailment, for which there is no cure, causes chronic inflammation of the intestinal walls and brings with it excruciating pain. It is named after Burrill Bernard Crohn (1884-1983), a United States physician who described the disease in a medical journal in 1932. "They say the pain is worse than childbirth," says Bourdon, who is with her teammates at the Class 3A state tournament in Corvallis this week, "because when it hits it doesn't come and go. It just stays in your gut for hours at a time." Bourdon, a sharpshooting senior guard who cracked the Pirates' starting lineup for parts of her sophomore and junior years, knew something was wrong in February of last year. Doctors removed her appendix, but when that didn't alleviate the pain, they did more tests. One day later, on Feb. 10, she was diagnosed with Crohn's disease and spent the next two weeks at Rogue Valley Medical Center. Bourdon hoped to avoid surgery but the disease was relentless. She dropped 14 pounds from her 5-foot-6, 125-pound frame and the pain returned with renewed intensity. After being readmitted to the hospital on Nov. 3 of last year, she underwent surgery six days later. Bourdon, who also played volleyball, knew her high school sports career was in serious jeopardy. "This was my senior year, when you're supposed to be having the time of your life," she says. "I was pretty depressed, but my family has been so supportive throughout this ordeal. And I know God wouldn't give me something I couldn't handle." Bourdon missed over a month of school following the surgery but was allowed to rejoin the basketball team in January. And on Feb. 4 -- her first game back in nearly a year -- something special happened. As starters for that night's opponent, North Valley, were introduced, each of them ran over to the Phoenix bench and shook Bourdon's hand. "I was totally shocked by that," Bourdon says. "It was so sweet of them to do that." Bourdon didn't get into the game that night, but she did appear one week later in a lopsided victory over Hidden Valley. The Phoenix crowd gave her a standing ovation. Her first and only shot of the game was an airball. Bourdon couldn't have cared less. "I was completely exhausted after one minute on the court," she says. "But it was the greatest feeling just to be out there." With the disease still in her system and with a digestive tract that is now missing some of its parts, Bourdon must follow a strict diet that is devoid of dairy products, nuts and almost any fruit that has a skin or seeds. Apples, oranges, strawberries, grapes, pineapples -- they are all forbidden. "I can't digest them," she says. Bourdon must also take a vitamin B-12 shot every week or so because her body no longer absorbs vitamins and minerals the way it once did. "I'm just taking it one day at a time," Bourdon says. "One day I'll have a ton of energy and want to do everything, and the next day I hardly want to get out of bed. "I can't practice full bore. I can't run like I used to." But the tortuous pain in her belly is gone. And she's back with her teammates. In the game of life, those count as victories. Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA