Brayden Lenius is ready for a game that has a six-point theme after enduring a six-game absence.
Touchdown Atlantic — Saturday’s CFL game between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Toronto Argonauts in Halifax — will mark the 2023 regular-season debut for Lenius.
The 26-year-old slotback has been sidelined since suffering a lacerated kidney in the Roughriders’ pre-season finale.
He resumed practising last week and is expected to come off the six-game injured list in short order.
“It has been a long six weeks, including the bye week,” said Lenius, a fourth-year Roughrider. “It has been testing. There has been a lot of self-reflection, but a lot of building as well.
“This is the first time in my career when I’ve really been hurt early in the season or in the middle of the season. It was definitely a battle at the start, especially after putting in all that work before camp.
“I had a healthy camp. I had a good camp. I got better from last year. Then, in the second pre-season game, I got hurt. But you learn a lot about yourself as a professional and a person in those moments.”
Moments into a June 2 pre-season game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Lenius was elbowed in a kidney while running a routine pattern across the middle.
“When it first happened, it hurt so bad,” he recalled. “It felt like I had been shot right in the side.
“You know how boxers get those liver shots and they kind of just shut down? That’s how my body felt.”
Yet, the gutsy Lenius played the remainder of the first half before the discomfort intensified.
“In the second half, I went up to the trainers and said, ‘I’m not feeling too good right now. My stomach’s kind of upset,’ ” he said. “They monitored it from there.”
After the game, Lenius was taken to hospital, where a CT scan was performed and a diagnosis was made. He remained in the hospital all night and was discharged in the morning, by which time the stricken kidney had stopped bleeding.
“At first, they said I actually couldn’t do contact for three months,” Lenius said. “They said I was going to be out for a long time. I thought, ‘Three months … no way. That’s half a season.’
“When you’re in the emergency room, they kind of give you the worst-case scenario, so I calmed down and went home.
“Then I had my ultrasounds during the week and talked to my urologist. He said, ‘Man, you healed so quick,’ and I was so happy. You kind of just take everything with a grain of salt and just take it day by day.”
The first few days were the toughest.
“There’s a sac around the kidney that protects it in trauma, so it was swollen up,” Lenius said. “So the whole first week, I was kind of leaning to my right, because I was so swollen.
“I felt like there was a balloon under my rib cage. I couldn’t sleep on my left side. It was just uncomfortable.”
It was a contrast, then, to Tuesday of last week, when Lenius returned to the practice field.
“It was unbelievable, just seeing everybody,” he said with a smile. “They gave me so much love. That means a lot, when you have your brothers rallying behind you.
“Throughout the whole process, everybody was asking how I was doing. They were concerned about how I was doing mentally. They’d ask, ‘How’s your head doing? How’s your mind?’ When you hear that from your brothers, that really does help.
“I probably couldn’t have done it without them, especially having their support over those six weeks. Being out there and smiling and getting to run around again and feel tired again and catching the ball, it feels so good.
“You have more appreciation when it’s taken away from you that quickly and you need to get back.”
Hence the excitement about the upcoming sold-out game.
“I’ve got some experience under my belt, so that kind of gives me that peace of mind,” said the 6-foot-5, 220-pound pass-catcher, whose mother (Shauna Lenius) will be in the crowd at Touchdown Atlantic.
“I know how to come out and how to handle myself and how to handle the emotions. I’m pretty calm, cool and collected, but I’ll just be smiling, laughing and having a good time.
“I can’t wait, because my family’s going to be there. A bunch of people are going to be there supporting me, so it’s going to be a good time.”
