United’s Jeb Brovsky eyes return from life-threatening blood clot

Jan. 27--Jeb Brovsky experienced that stomach-sinking feeling after falling to the grass during Minnesota United's loss to Carolina on Oct. 22. The pain was unfamiliar, but the Loons midfielder knew it was bad.

He immediately suspected he had torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, a conviction soon confirmed. What he didn't see coming was the ensuing uncertainty that first threatened his livelihood, then his life.

The first domino to fall was expected. With a lengthy rehab ahead, the 28-year-old free agent wasn't awarded a contract, left home as a new roster of Loons traveled to Arizona this week to prepare for the club's first Major League Soccer season this spring.

"I tried to stay positive and tried to get in my own head and say, 'I had a good year. I think I've shown the club and shown the people in Minnesota that I really want to be here,' " Brovsky, a Colorado native, told the Pioneer Press last week.

But without income to support his wife, Caitlin, and toddler son, Laeth, doubts crept in. "There is no way around it," he said.

Then a second domino tumbled in a rare and scary way. A week after knee surgery, Brovsky developed a "weird" soreness in his calf during his first physical therapy session. That night, the pain moved to his ribs and kept him restless.

"One of the most excruciating pains I've ever had in my life," he said.

The next morning, Nov. 2, Brovsky struggled to walk and talk. With Caitlin's urging, he called United team physician Corey Wulf, who advised Brovsky to immediately report to an emergency room. There, doctors discovered a blood clot had formed in Brovsky's calf, traveled through his heart and into his lung.

The pain near his ribs, he said, was caused by a nerve ending ripping off from the lung's lining.

"It could have killed me," he said. "The doctor said if (the clot) was any bigger, it would have lodged, and I would have been in big, big trouble. That would have been the end of me."

Brovsky spent three nights at Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina and was discharged with a prescription of pain pills and blood thinners. He has had to inject the blood thinners into his stomach twice daily while ramping up his knee rehabilitation.

"Extremely scary," Caitlin Brovsky said. "We have no family here, and to try to go through that by myself. ... You have so many emotions running through your head, 'How could you have helped this?' "

'SMALL TO DEADLY'

United owner Dr. Bill McGuire, who practiced medicine for seven years before moving into health care management, was present throughout Brovsky's magnetic resonance imaging test on his knee, the subsequent surgery and through the blood clot ordeal.

"He was great," Brovsky said. "My wife, when I was under, he talked to her and made sure she knew exactly what was going on, so I do thank him a lot. It was comforting to know that the team cared."

McGuire, the former CEO of UnitedHealth Group and the club's primary owner since 2013, said developing a blood clot after surgery can occur, but is "pretty unusual."

"They can range from small to deadly," he said.

Caitlin hadn't met McGuire before Jeb's injury, but said her new acquaintance was calming and supportive. "Having him explain it and be there was a big deal for us," she said.

McGuire said it's common for him to be present during players' surgeries. He did it when former Loons forward Pablo Campos had his ACL repaired in 2014, and when former midfielder Jamie Watson had similar surgery in 2015.

"No. 1, we want to make sure that we do everything possible for any of our people," McGuire said. "It's not just about the good, but it's about being there to help people."

THE ART OF TOUGHNESS

When Brovsky refers to the blood clot as "one of the most excruciating pains," he's stacking it up against other sizable sufferings.

In middle school, he endured a badly broken leg and went on to play at Notre Dame. With the Montreal Impact in 2013, he broke his nose in six places during an aerial dual, but gauze was stuffed up his nostrils and he stayed in the game. "That was the most barbaric thing I've done," he shared during last season.

Brovsky also displayed that steely resolve to United supporters last May. Against Tampa Bay at the National Sports Center in Blaine, he suffered a Grade 3 separated shoulder. He scraped himself off the turf and kept playing with a bouncing clavicle as his substitute warmed up.

"He was the definition of a gritty player in an age where that art form has kind of been lost," said Watson, who retired this offseason to become the Loons' TV sideline reporter. "His biggest testament is he knows who he is as a person and as a player, and he doesn't waver from that. I think it's commendable."

Before the blood clot was diagnosed, Brovsky tried to fight through the pain in his ribs with the same toughness he showed on the pitch. He recalled thinking, "Maybe I just have a muscle torn in there or something."

But when doctors told Brovsky about the clot's risk to his life, Jeb said Caitlin got "almost mad at me, that I'm a little too tough for my own good at times."

Caitlin replied that opinion isn't unique to the clot scare.

"I'm saying he's too tough; I've been telling him that forever," she said. "There are so many times when he's gotten hurt in his career where I'm saying, 'Let it heal before you go back.' He goes and goes and goes and goes. He doesn't stop. That's how he was when I met him."

FUTURE

Before joining Minnesota in 2016, Brovsky had played for three MLS expansion franchises in five years -- Vancouver, Montreal and New York City. He wants Minnesota to be his fourth.

Loons' left back Justin Davis, retained by the club for MLS, said Brovsky was a great influence in the locker room last year.

"He's a super humble guy and works hard, funny to have in the locker room," Davis said. "He's a leader and has been around the league for a while. He's got a lot of experience."

Watson added, "When he talks, people listen."

Davis said it was difficult for teammates to see what Brovsky went through in November. "It breaks your heart because the guy has a family, too," he said.

Jeb and Caitlin are expecting their second child, and the stress of Jeb's heath scare and uncertain job prospects was compounded when his health insurance benefits ran out in 2017.

"It's a good life test for me at this moment," he said. "It's tough on the family. ... My wife and I and the little guy have to make things work. It's tough not being signed with a team right now and not getting any income. It's certainly hard, and my wife is staying strong. She is my rock."

The Brovskys have remained in Minnesota as Jeb progresses in his rehab. In mid-January, he returned to running on an anti-gravity treadmill.

"My cardio has been getting a lot of work," he said. "I've really been working on my deficiencies, my core and everything like that. My goal from the outset was to become the healthiest athlete that I've been. I will say I'm about two months out. The goal is to be playing by April, full 100 percent, in games.

"Really, when you look at the whole season (which runs through October), that's almost nothing. It's positive and going forward pretty well."

New United coach Adrian Heath said he visited with Brovsky in early January and told the media last week that once Brovsky is heathy, he will have a chance with the Loons in 2017.

"He will certainly come into the group when he's fit and well," Heath said. "It would be wrong of us, I think, not to give him the opportunity like that. He's got to get fit and well, and we will give him the necessary time he needs."

Brovsky said his agent has received inquiries from other clubs, but those teams, like United, are also taking a wait-and-see approach with his health.

While Brovsky will likely remain a tough guy when he returns to the field, some cautiousness has entered his consciousness.

"If something is really not feeling right, it's not worth your life," he concluded. "I have a kid now, and we want to have more kids. It's just not worth it."

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