Stags player works to regain strength

He was the pillar of strength, the Stags' Mister Everything. But as last year's season wore on, Anthony Johnson seemed to wear out. He had no idea why.

"My game just started falling so I thought it was just like a drought, like everyone goes through," Johnson said.

And so he worked harder, which as it turns out was probably the worst thing he could do.

What Johnson and everyone else didn't know at the time was that he had developed a blood clot in each lung, a potentially fatal condition.

The fatigue got worse and so did the pain, which was never more evident than in last year's game against St. Peter's.

"I went up and dunked and then I was like, 'Alright, I can't.' I went to the side and just laid on the bench because I couldn't do anything else. I couldn't sit up because it was hurting so bad," Johnson said.

The only thing more intense than the pain was his desire to play and not let his teammates down, until finally an ambulance took him to the hospital where he got the bad news.

"I was in the room by myself and one of the nurses came in, it was before the doctor, and she told me what happened and she said, 'You can never play basketball again,' and I was like, 'Ok, this is crazy," Johnson said. "The doctor came in and told me what could have happened and then I was like, ok, it's more than just basketball. I could have died on the court."

Doctors never figured out what cuased the blood clots but were able to treat it with medication and now he's working himself back into basketball shape.

"It was horrible. Everytime I ran it just wasn't how I used to run. I would get tired after the first sprint," Johnson said.

He says he's at about 80 percent now, but knows he works out and plays with a risk. While doctors have cleared him, there's always the threat of the clots returning.

"There is a possibility of everything, so I'm going to take the possibility of playing because I love playing," Johnson said. "It would have been more scary if I knew I wasn't going to play."