Sophomore swimmer Delay returns to pool after colon surgery

Only one day before trying to qualify for the Olympic Trials in one of her favorite events, the 100-meter freestyle, IU sophomore swimmer Sara Delay found herself in the hospital with her life about to change.

A 21-year-old from Concord, Calif., Delay was one of IU’s best freestyle sprinters as a freshman. She helped the Hoosiers win their third consecutive Big Ten title and was a member of an All-America freestyle relay team. She also qualified for an Olympic Trials spot in the 50-yard freestyle two weeks earlier, her life-long dream.

However, on that day, Aug. 1, 2011, one day before she was expected to compete with her teammates in the 2011 ConocoPhillips USA Swimming National Championships in Palo Alto, Calif., a mere hour’s drive from home, Delay was admitted to Stanford Hospital with stomach pain.

She spent the next 19 days in the hospital before leaving with a diagnosis of colitis and her way of life permanently altered.

“We brought her out to nationals in the summer, and we were with her when she was admitted to the hospital, and we all just thought it would be something quick,” IU Coach Ray Looze said. “She was even hopeful of swimming at the summer nationals, and then she was in a week, she was in two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, you know? It just got worse and worse and worse.”

When Delay was released from Stanford Hospital on Aug. 20, 2011, her teammates had already returned to Bloomington with school about to begin.

With her lingering illness, Delay faced a sobering reality: She wasn’t healthy enough to return to school.

“I just found out that the way my recovery was going to be, it would take me a really long time to get back to where I was my freshman year,” Delay said. “I didn’t want to waste my year of eligibility, so the coaches and I thought it was a good idea for me to redshirt so that I could have it back for next year.”

Unfortunately for Delay, her first hospitalization was one of many to come. As her colitis became more severe, Delay, with the help of her family, decided to have her colon removed Nov. 2, 2011.

While her teammates trained nearly 2,000 miles away only days after a dual meet against Michigan and Texas, Delay lay in a hospital bed at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center, about to undergo a life-changing surgery.

“It was an emotional time, and I didn’t know what to think because I was 20 years old and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, how could this be happening to me?’” Delay said. “It was a really hard time, and I knew it was the right thing for me to do to have my colon removed because I had no choice.”

It’s been a long road for recovery ever since. After being released from UCSF one week after her surgery, she returned only 24 hours later due to an obstruction in her stomach, something Delay recalls being extremely painful.

After being close to another surgery, Delay had to have a tube inserted through her nose to have the excess stomach fluids removed. Delay avoided a second surgery. However, she spent another week in the hospital.

“It was a terrible night for me, and I seriously thought I wasn’t going to survive,” Delay said. “I thank UCSF Hospital for saving me. The only thing I hated the most was having a nose tube down my throat but that was the thing that was saving my life.”

After her third hospitalization, Delay was released. Since then, she has not been in pain and has worked endlessly to get back in the pool.
 
By late December, she was swimming again.

“For most people, they just think that after they have this tragedy happen, they can’t go back to where they were, that they have to hide in a hole and they can’t go back to the things they love,” Delay said. “But for me, it wasn’t that way. Once I got out of the hospital, all I could think about was when would I get back in the water to compete and swim for IU and get back to my life.”

Although she was unable to be in Indiana to support her team from the stands, Delay has been the swimming and diving team’s No. 1 fan.

She consistently posted on teammates’ Facebook walls, wishing them luck, and even sent both the men’s and women’s teams cookie bouquets before their respective Big Ten Championships.

She also sends the team text messages regularly. Looze confessed she is big on using emoticons. The day before the women’s Big Ten Championship started, the team dedicated the meet in Delay’s honor.

“When I heard that, I never even thought of anyone doing that for me, and it made me cry actually,” Delay said. “That just meant that my teammates love me so much, and I love them too, and it was really cool that they did that for me. That’s what an IU team should be. They should help each other out through tough times.”

Though her team finished  second for that meet, Delay’s positivity throughout her entire ordeal inspired her teammates to perform to the best of their ability in the tough times, something that Delay herself lives by day in and day out.

“Sara is one of the happiest people you’ll ever meet and loved swimming more than anyone,” senior Margaux Farrell said.

“We decided she would be our inspiration for Big Ten’s at the beginning of the year when we found out she wouldn’t be coming back. It helps us remember that there is always a bigger purpose and how grateful we should be.”

Delay is slowly returning to her normal routine. Though she remains home in California, Delay plans to return to IU in May, when she will begin training for the Olympic Trials — with her teammates.

She also expects to return to swim for IU next season.

“She’s still got a long road to recovery, but if anyone can do it, it will be Sara,”
Looze said. “A 20-year-old girl shouldn’t lose her colon. That’s for 60- and 70-year-old people, and that’s still tough. But if there’s anyone that’s going to overcome this, it will
be her.”