Sepsis nearly killed him. Now this powerlifter hopes to win state

ENNIS, Texas — At positive instances in existence, an uncomfortable weight can land on our backs. And 17-year-old Lucas Hagler, a senior at Ennis High School, is aware of precisely what to do in the ones moments. 

He jokes that, whilst rising up in the rural corner of the Metroplex, his circle of relatives continuously requested him to open jars or elevate issues round the home. 

“To quote my grandmother: I was always a strong one,” Hagler advised WFAA with a grin. 

The 242-pound weight-class powerlifter is heading to the state meet in Abilene this weekend after breaking the squat and bench information throughout the Region 2 Division 1 Championships on March 8th. 

But getting to this juncture wasn’t a very simple carry for the teenager.

“I’m lucky to be here right now,” he stated. “It sounds cocky, but I have come a long way since August.” 

Except, no, it isn’t cocky in any respect if you be told what took place to Hagler. 

He had a biopsy on a cyst discovered on his left leg throughout soccer season to decide if it was once bad. Then he performed within the trenches at the line of defense whilst suiting up for his staff’s recreation in opposition to Waxahachie in August – whilst his wound was once nonetheless therapeutic. 

After that recreation, the teenager turned into ill with a 105-degree fever. And his well being would quickly take any other drastic flip.

“I thought I was having a heat stroke,” Hagler stated. “They took my blood at the hospital here in Ennis and decided to send me to Children’s [Medical Center Dallas] after seeing the results.”

Doctors there advised Hagler and his circle of relatives he had evolved sepsis once you have an an infection. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describe that life-threatening situation as “the body’s extreme response to an infection”; it temporarily “triggers a chain reaction throughout your body” and “without timely treatment… can rapidly lead to tissue damage, organ failure, and death.”

Hagler spent 3 days within the ICU being handled for sepsis. Then he spend six extra days within the health facility simply recuperating. 

It was once a second he describes as touch-and-go. 

“I was close to death right there because the infection went all through the left side of my body,” Hagler stated. “I was in a lot of pain the whole time.” 

His left leg turned into swollen too, making it tough to stroll. 

“The feeling of trying to walk was like putting needles in you when you moved,” Hagler stated. 

At the similar time, despite the fact that, the teenager was once striking his focal point on bouncing again into shape. He was once on antibiotics for weeks, his mom stated, however he nonetheless controlled to go back to the gridiron to end the soccer season along his fellow Lions. 

After a playoff loss in the second one spherical, Hagler then became his focal point again towards powerlifting. 

He’s already made the state meet for powerlifting in 2022, and his eyes had been firmly planted on making it again once more this 12 months.

It would not be simple, in fact. He’s nonetheless coping with a complication from his well being scare — together with a bone in his left hand that he stated is now lifeless due to his an infection attaining it. 

“I’m going to need surgery in a few months to get that taken care of,” Hagler stated of that bone. 

But that simply makes what the teenager not too long ago did to match qualify for state all of the extra spectacular.

Dead bone and all, he set a document for his weight category and area by means of benching 505 kilos. 

He additionally set a brand new squat document along Buda Hays powerlifter Christian Rameriz at 710 kilos, a feat that equates to striking a well-filled merchandising system —  or a small Icelandic horse (severely, glance it up) — onto your again and doing a squat. 

Then, to most sensible it off, he deadlifted 510 kilos. 

As a results of lifting a blended 1,725 kilos — a complete of his absolute best bench, squat and deadlift from the day — Hagler finished first in his weight category on the regional championships.

The youngster, pointless to say, is happy with his development. 

“I was down for months, and it’s just a really big personal goal that I’m proud I’ve achieved,” Hagler stated. 

Making the instant all of the sweater: Hagler is not the one Lion competing on the state meet; his teammates Max Sellers, John Vega, and Bryten Fields shall be becoming a member of him there, too. 

Soon sufficient, he’s going to focal point on what comes subsequent. Hagler advised WFAA he’ll most likely attend Navarro College as soon as he graduates, the place he hopes to find out about nursing. A $1,000 scholarship he simply won from the Texas High School Powerlifting Association may lend a hand his reach that purpose.

For now, despite the fact that, Hagler is solely extremely joyful about getting the risk to display people how a long way he is come, and the place he is been, come the contest this Saturday in Taylor County.

“Lifting is a big part of my lifestyle,” Hagler stated. “I deal with stress by lifting. It’s taken me a long way.”