Addison "Turbo" Benner has had her sight set on scoring 1,000 varsity basketball points before she even reached her freshman year. She knew how many points she needed to score because she calculated it.
"I knew I was going to get it in seventh grade," Turbo said. "I did the math and knew how many points I'd need to average per game."
When Benner reached the 1K mark in an early December game on her home court, it felt like something that was supposed to happen.
But Turbo and her family — many who attended the milestone by being her coach or teammate, others who traveled across state lines to watch — know the long journey and obstacles she had to overcome to get here.
"My brain was shutting down and I almost died," Turbo said. "Then my brain and eye were all messed up. I can kind of see if I try to focus, but it's a bit of a disadvantage."
When Turbo was 11 months old, she was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune condition called acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), which is a brief but intense swelling of the brain and spinal cord.
The cause of the diagnosis was never determined, but doctors told Turbo's parents Rob and Erin Benner it was likely due to a reaction to an infection or environmental exposure.
"It was a tough time because I kept taking her to doctors and they told me she was fine," said Erin, who is an assistant coach on the Bullets. "She had been walking at nine months and within a couple weeks she couldn't sit up anymore."
One night, Turbo began to exhibit signs of distress and her eyes wandered. She was rushed to the hospital, where she stayed for a week with serious complications. Eventually high IV doses of steroids made the swelling go down and Turbo thankfully responded positively.
"It was a very scary situation when Addison was sick," Erin said. "We had a lot of support from our friends and family. Most of her family was able to get to the game [Dec. 5 when Addison reached 1,000 points], which was awesome. All of her grandmothers, uncle, and grandfather traveling from as far as Maine and Georgia."
Turbo's brain only recognizes/uses one eye as subsequent therapy was unsuccessful in teaching the brain to utilize both. She gets peripheral vision in her left eye, but the vision is 20/200. For reference, someone is legally blind if their vision can't be corrected to be better than 20/200 in their better eye.
"I can't really see well out of my left eye," Turbo said after she broke the 1,000-point mark. "I try to keep my head on a swivel but sometimes I can get blindsided by people or the basketball."
Turbo and her family have dealt with ignorant teasing and bullying at countless high school and AAU basketball events due to the vision impairment. Turbo has risen above it all and is an inspirational example of showing her ability to overcome adversity.
"Anybody can really do anything if you put your mind to it," Turbo said. "Even if you do have a disability. I've seen some kids out there that have something like me and they're doing just fine, even better than the kids that don't have a disability."
Benner is a four-year starter. If she took that into consideration when she was in seventh grade, along with accepting a high school season typically runs about 25 games, she would've landed on scoring 10 points in 100 high school games to reach 1,000.
Turns out she averaged 13.8 points through 73 games to become the fourth Brandywine Heights girl to reach 1,000 points joining Deanna Daddona (1,253), Nicole Savino (1,252), and Mallory Olsheski (1,062).
She envisioned this milestone and now has a chance to have her name not just on the 1,000-point banner that hangs in the Bullets' gymnasium in Mertztown, but atop of it.
For all of the players who have laced their sneakers up to play in the Berks Girls League, which started off with six players on the court until 1970, only 142 have scored 1,000 points in their careers.
Turbo Benner is one of them.
Comments