Jake Coon sped down the slope at Seven Springs Mountain Resort in January of 2019.

The experienced skier and self-proclaimed adrenalin junkie was enjoying the breakneck speed when he hit a patch of ice and tumbled, slamming into the snowpack.

When the Cranberry Township teen and then junior at Seneca Valley High School came to a rest, he felt pain in his left hip, but thought nothing of it.

“You know how teenagers are,” Coon said, chuckling.

He skied down the rest of the mountain, but when it came time to leave, he couldn't walk to the car.

A trip to two hospitals and an overnight stay resulted in words no one ever wants to hear.

“Be prepared for the worst,” a doctor at UPMC Children's Hospital told Coon and his parents.

Coon had dislocated his left hip and broken the tip of his femur. Blood was filling the capsule fast.

He needed emergency surgery or his femur would die and he would never walk again.

Even with the surgery, doctors were unsure if Coon would ever be able walk normally or pain-free.

Of course, they kept that information from Coon.

A four-hour surgery that resulted in four screws placed in his hip and left him with a 12-inch scar led to three months of virtual bed rest.

Just three months after that, Coon was running again.

That was when his doctor let him know the true extent of his injury.

“He asked me what I was doing in (physical therapy) and I said I had started running,” Coon said. “His eyes widened.”

It was the latest in a string of unfortunate injuries that had befallen Coon, stunting a promising baseball career that included a spot on the USA national team for his age group when he was 15.

In the eighth grade he dislocated the same hip running down the first base line.

“As soon as it happened, I immediately blacked out,” Coon said. “I fell to the ground and was unconscious for like 10 seconds. I woke up face-down on the ground. It was one of the most painful things I've had.”

A workout fiend even at that young age, Coon had become too strong for his bones, which led to that injury, doctor's said.

He worked his way back to health and was playing for the Seneca Valley ninth-grade team when another stroke of bad luck hit him.

Diving back into the first-base bag, he dislocated his right shoulder.

“My shoulder was not where it was supposed to be,” Coon said. “It was sticking out of my uniform.”

A few weeks later, he dislocated it again while taking ground balls with his father at Graham Park.

Unable to put his arm down, he had to ride to the hospital in the passenger seat with his elbow propped on the door and his arm out the window.

Surgery followed to repair a badly torn labrum. He had also broken off a piece of bone.

It took Coon a year to recover from that injury and make the USA 15-year-old team.

Then, the skiing accident happened.

A year of intense rehab later, Coon was ready for the 2020 baseball season at Seneca Valley, his senior campaign.

The coronavirus pandemic wiped out his final chance to play in high school.

“He's had a lot of adversity that a lot of high school kids never have to overcome,” said Seneca Valley baseball coach Eric Semega. “Finally he was healthy and ready to go for his senior year and COVID hits. He's basically rehabbed for three years and never got a chance.”

Coon, though, has never felt cheated. He's never become bitter.

He sees the trials he has been through as a blessing.

In more ways than one.

Never one to shy away from danger, Coon has been cliff diving and white water rafting. He's taken risks, sometimes reckless ones.

No more.

He's sworn off skiing, even though his mother is Swedish and an avid skier.

He's become prudent.

“If this didn't happen, I probably would have done something more stupid and ended up much worse,” Coon said. “I'm definitely a lot smarter now with my actions. Before, if I was white water rafting and the left path had a five-foot waterfall and the right path was smooth sailing, I'd take the left path. Now, I'll choose the right. There's a lot of peace and a lot of joy to be had in just relaxing.”

Coon hasn't relaxed on the baseball field since his recovery.

This summer he batted over .500 with a pair of home runs for Cranberry Township in the Butler County Area Baseball League.

The recent SV graduate feels like he is faster than he was before the hip injury. He was relieved he could simply still play.

“It's in the back of your head, 'I used to be able to do this. Can I still do it?'” Coon said.

“I had the opportunity to homeschool him (in math) and see everything he was going through,” Semega added. “He went from not being able to move to the way he was running the bases, I was shocked.”

Coon attended a showcase at Slippery Rock University that helped him earn a walk-on spot on The Rock's baseball roster.

The plan was for Coon to be on the SRU roster the entire fall season to prove himself. That season, however, has been canceled because of COVID-19.

“(SRU) saw a glimpse of his talent,” Semega said. “Hopefully he's just given a chance to succeed.”

Coon is jumping at every chance now.

His experience has led him to want to pursue a career in physical therapy.

His experience has also made every baseball game a precious one.

“Any time I'm out on the field, I'm giving my best, no matter what,” Coon said. “That's something I don't think I might have done if I hadn't been woken up in a way. I always had the grit, but it was never brought out of me until these past three, four years.”