Liz Mahoney didn't think anything of her sore left leg following indoor track and field practice last December. When getting out of bed the next day was close to impossible, she knew something was seriously wrong.

Within a few hours, Mahoney, a sophomore at Auburn High School, would go under the knife as she received emergency surgery for a staph infection that had spread through her left knee to her femur.

Suddenly, Mahoney's track and field abilities took a back seat to the future of her left leg.

“I had never been sick or hurt or anything before,” Mahoney said. “I was really scared. I was really out of it though. I was just upset and angry.”

Mahoney's infection was so rare, a handful of medical specialists could not determine how it even reached her leg.

Molly Mahoney, Liz's mother, said the most likely cause was a blister Liz had gotten on her toe from running a few months earlier.

“We don't know how she got [the infection],” Molly said. “The only thing we can think of is that it might have had something to do with the blister. She had to go visit Dr. Sable with the Infections Disease Control Center in Syracuse, that's how bizarre this was. It's so rare.” Mahoney faced a long rehabilitation process after the initial orthoscopic surgery was performed by Mark Pietropali on Dec. 12.

“Dr. Pietropali was able to orthoscopically go into her knee and flush everything out, put in a drain, clean it up,” Molly said. “There was very little damage to her knee; it was in good condition. However, this infection was right on the femur. She ended up with no infection inside the bone, but she was on intravenous antibiotics for six weeks.”

The Mahoneys had to have a home health care nurse come once a week to change the dressings and clean up Liz's arm. Liz also required four different full syringes every day in preparation for the antibiotic she was on.

Still, the thought of not running in the spring never once crossed Mahoney's mind, even as she spent almost half a year in physical therapy.

“I was on crutches for about two weeks and I walked with a cane for about two months,” Mahoney said. “I was out of school for four weeks and I had physical therapy for almost five months.”

Despite missing the entire indoor track season, Mahoney was cleared physically to return to the track in the spring.

“She really suffered this winter without running,” Molly said. “That's her social network, her outlet, her passion, and to not be able to do that, she was very angry.”

Mahoney channeled that built up anger and energy into constant improvement on the track.

“The first few practices she was slow. She was at the back of the pack, but she kept going,” Molly said. “Then the meets started, and the first couple of meets she was back to the pack, but she ran the race.”

For most, just returning to the sport they love would be an enormous comeback in its own right. But Mahoney wasn't content with just running - she wanted to win.

“They got her back in the relays, and she runs the [4x800] relay,” Molly said. “They started winning. Then they put her back in her favorite race, the [1,500-meter], and the first home meet I went to she came in second in that race, at which point of course I start crying, because we weren't sure she was ever going to run again.”

Mahoney, a distance runner, began placing in a number of races, including the 3,000-meter. One of Mahoney's goals entering the season was to compete a new event #) the 2,000-meter steeple chase. She not only enjoyed the new challenge, she qualified for sectionals in the event.

Despite such an amazing comeback, Mahoney admits that the procedures have negatively affected both her running and overall leg movement.

“It's slowed me down just because I've lost a lot of muscle, which I'm planning to work hard and build up this summer,” Mahoney said. “But I also have some trouble still just bending my knee back.”

Mahoney's left leg won't bend as far as her right leg and probably never will, Molly concedes. But it certainly hasn't ended Mahoney's track career. In fact, it is something she plans to do at the collegiate level as well.

Mahoney's story also has a happy ending in that she now plans to pursue a career in the medical field as a result from her exposure to it.

“She's been so impressed with the care that she's received in the physical therapy and from the doctors and nurses and everyone who's treated her that she really is starting to consider this as a career choice,” Molly said. “It's exciting to watch.”

While she is only wrapping up her sophomore year of high school, Mahoney already has an interest in attending college in the city atmosphere.

“I'm thinking about going for either nursing or physical therapy, and maybe turning that into medical school somehow,” Mahoney said. “I've been really interested in Hunter College, which is in New York City, and running for them.”

For Molly, however, the sight of Liz healthy and running again was all she could ask for.

“When we were going through this in December, she could have lost her leg,” Molly said. “This was such a serious illness, to see her run again was such a relief. And then heck, she started winning.”