NISSA FOWLER
nissafowler@gmail.com
Andover Outing Club
I jumped for a few years in high school and I loved it! My love for it was probably driven by my absolute respect and appreciation for my coach and English teacher, Tim Norris (a legendary figure in the community). I also raced slalom kayaking with a compellingly talented coach who told me to stop jumping because I’d fall, injure my shoulder by stretching my arms in front of me defensively and never paddle again! Yikes! I didn’t want that!
So, when I inevitably fell, I held my arms back and landed straight on my face. It was pretty bad snow that day with lots of ice causing a painful loss of skin on my face and a massive amount of swelling later. I didn’t know that right away, so I stood up and yelled to my coach “Tim, I have all my teeth!” He instructed me to sit down.
Well, as I learned 20 years later, an impact like that to a tooth can cause an immune system response that leads the tooth to eat itself from the inside out. I recently had to have a front tooth pulled and I am certain that this fall was the traumatic event causing the injury to my tooth. So, Tim, I actually lost 1 tooth that day! It was worth it.
