Hallandale’s Sherrell Shows Plenty of Heart in Comeback

The life-altering news came at Lashae Sherrell with the blurring swiftness of a 100-meter dash.

Imagine.  From routine physical to major surgery in a flash flood of incomprehensible utterances.

Heart murmur … dire consequences … Future in jeopardy … open-heart surgery.

"I was shocked. They were like, ‘You have to have surgery.'  On my heart?  Mine?  They said, ‘We can squeeze you in next week.'  Excuse me?"

Still seems surreal to the Hallandale senior as she recounts the events of August 2008. Competing last week in the BCAA track and field championships, Sherrell's concerns were simply on running fast and jumping far.

Which is to say, normal.  No outward sign of the ordeal in her sunny disposition, which surely had much to do with overcoming it.  That and having track to focus on.

"I knew track is what I wanted to do.  It was motivation to get better, to take my meds, to walk around the hospital," she says.  "They said there's a chance you're not going to be 100 percent, that it's probably going to slow you down.  That was very discouraging.  But I prayed about it and here I am today."

After surgery to repair a heart valve, determination brought her back for the 2009 track season, but it was an uneasy time for her and the team.  Her progress was carefully monitored, workouts limited.  After she was cleared for competition, an element of concern remained, even in her mind.

"I was scared at first.  All the thoughts — what if I just collapsed?" she says.  "Once I got on the track and started an actual race, I forgot about it."

Sherrell got as far as regionals in the 100 last season.  Hallandale girls' coach Jeremiah Whitfield describes her progress during her junior season as a "metamorphosis."  He points to her running a personal best of 12.44 in the 100 at last year's BCAA meet as the turning point in a dramatic transformation.

But what distinguishes Sherrell in the eyes of her team isn't as much about times as attitude.

"To have someone who's gone through so much and still keep a smile on her face and have so much humor about her, it's great, especially for the other kids.  They really look up to her, I think," said Kia Raf, the Chargers' sprint and jump coach.  "She's never said, ‘I can't do it, it hurts.'  Never once missed a workout or shirked a workout.  She's always 100 percent in front of the pack."

When Sherrell ran 12.44 on Thursday in a BCAA qualifying meet at Everglades High, she was unaware she had equaled her best time.  When you're 18 and have come back from heart surgery, the big picture trumps incremental achievements.

Her concerns now are the same as other senior track athletes: winning races, qualifying for state and getting into college.

"Heart surgery in no where on my mind," she says.  "Nothing can stop me but me, and it won't be me."

In Saturday's BCAA finals at Coral Springs, Sherrell placed seventh in the 100 and jumped a personal best of 17 feet, 2 1/4 inches in placing sixth in the long jump, a new event for her this season.  She also runs the 200 and the leadoff leg of the 4x100 relay.

"She's been an inspiration to a lot of us.  She gives us courage," says Camree Jackson, who takes the baton from Sherrell in the relay.  "We don't talk about it [but] we know what she's gone through.  When we give up sometimes, we think about it and she gives us strength to keep going."

Sherrell hasn't settled on a college but her future is back in clear focus.

"I want to study nursing.  I love to help people.  I'd rather be the one taking care of someone else than being the one taken care of."