Pressing on with pain

Jillian Ricks featureOCC’s Jillian Ricks has remained productive despite several ailments, including Crohn’s Disease.On an Orange Coast College women’s basketball team known for overcoming all manor of adversity, Jillian Ricks is equal parts power forward and poster child.

The 6-foot-1 sophomore transfer from Weber State leads the Pirates (23-2, 6-0 in the Orange Empire Conference) in scoring at 13.8 points per game.

But she also leads Coach Mike Thornton’s team, ranked No 5 in the state and No. 2 in Southern California, in afflictions. That is no small distinction, since starting point guard Laurie Denning suffered a season-ending knee injury in December and starters Teeya Fernandez, Valerie Katayama and Madison Parks have battled various ailments.

Ricks’ misfortune began in a Dec. 9 victory over Cerritos, when she took an opponent’s errant elbow in the mouth. The force of the blow dislodged several teeth and sidelined her for the subsequent three-game Coast Christmas Classic.

“Her dentist said it was one of the worst trauma things he had seen,” Thornton said.

Ricks was fitted for braces to hold her teeth in place and she wears a mouthpiece while competing. But while recovering from that blow, she was hit with even more serious medical news.

“I went home during Christmas break and I saw a stomach specialist,” said Ricks, who began experiencing stomach pains last year at Weber State.

“I began having stomach pains, but they would always go away,” Ricks said. “Then in August [2005], about the time I started school at Orange Coast, I started having really severe stomach pain that was really uncomfortable.”

After some tests, Ricks said doctors told her she had an ulcer they said was brought on by a virus. Medication was prescribed to handle the problem.

But when the medication ran out, Ricks continued to experience pain, prompting a late-December visit to a stomach specialist in her hometown of Ukiah, Calif.

“That’s when I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease,” Ricks said.

Chrone’s Disease is a chronic disorder that causes inflammation in the digestive tract. It is not life-threatening, but there is no cure and daily medication is required to help manage the ailment.

And pain can be a constant.

Ricks said she has lost 26 pounds since August. She takes approximately 20 pills a day (down from the 40 she took daily immediately after the diagnosis), and she still experiences periodic pain that can be so severe, it leaves her unable to stand.

But Ricks has stood firm with her plans to continue playing. Despite the inability to gain back any weight -- which has depleted her strength and endurance -- Ricks’ production has, remarkably, increased since the diagnosis. In her first six conference games, she has averaged 14.7 points per game. In those six games, she shot 50.8% from the field, up from 47.7% overall.

The last four games, she has also played through a strained abdominal muscle -- a malady unrelated to her disease, she said.

“When I first saw her play after she got here, I was sitting with a few of my other players,” Thornton said. “I told them [Ricks] looked like a power forward you order out of a catalog. She’s a good inside player with good knowledge of the game and she can shoot from the perimeter.”

Ricks was 9 of 16 from beyond the arc (60%) heading into Wednesday’s five-overtime win at Fullerton.

Ricks said basketball has been a blessing.

“I think being so busy has helped a lot, because I really haven’t had time to sit and dwell on [the disease],” Ricks said. “It’s great to have something else, like basketball, to do and the people I’m around on the team are all very supportive.

“But at the same time, being so busy makes it difficult to concentrate on what I need to do treatment-wise. I have to manage my time around when I need to take my medication.”

Ricks and Thornton have collaborated on a plan to give Ricks more rest during games.

“She can play, as long as she can handle the pain,” Thornton said. But she can’t play long periods of time, so I try to play her in four- or five-minute stretches. Sometimes, she stretches that out because she doesn’t want to come out of a game. Sometimes I have to fight with her to come out.”

Said Ricks, “When I’m on the court and playing, I can’t really feel it for the most part, especially when it’s a very close game. But when there’s a timeout, that’s when I feel it.”

Ricks said support from her parents in Ukiah and her brother, with whom she lives in Rancho Santa Margarita, have been a big help.

“They said they totally support me in whatever I do, but they want me to be careful and put my health first,” Ricks said. “But I’d never want to be a person that lets something else kind of control my life. Even though I’ve been diagnosed with this disease, the best way for me to be successful in life is to battle it and continue to do the things I want to do. I’m a competitive person, so I want to overcome this and not let it defeat me.”

Ricks committed last week to continue her basketball career next season at UC San Diego, a rising NCAA Division II power. But she would first like to help OCC pursue a state title.