Freshman Jlijah Wright was racing through his house when he rammed his toe into a pipe in the ground. What started as a stubbed toe, however, soon became a trip to the emergency room and more pain than he originally thought.

Why did you have to cut your toe off?
I had a blood clot and it got an infection, but the whole thing is not cut off, just half of it. It doesn’t hurt that bad. 

How did you get the blood clot?
I was running through my house and there was a pipe, and I hit it, like very hard. A green part started growing up on my toe. 

Did it hurt?
It really didn’t hurt that bad, it was just stinging. [The doctor] was like “Okay we’re gonna take you to the ER,” so he took me to the ER and I don’t remember anything after that. 

How did you feel when you were told you would have to get your toe amputated?
I didn’t feel too worried because I’d rather [my toe] than my whole leg because they said if the infection got worse they would have to cut half of my leg off, like from my knee down. I don’t remember it because when they did it I was asleep, and I just woke up with a wrap around my foot. 

How has your life changed?
It feels the same because half of it is gone… but they put [part of it] back after they took out the blood clot, and they stitched. So I can still walk perfectly fine, I just have to get used to it hurting. 

How did you stay so calm?
My granny, she had her whole leg cut off and I was like “That’s not nothing compared to what my granny got,” so I really wasn’t worried about it. It’s only going to hurt for a week or two, so I’ll just get over it until the pain starts going away.