11-Year-Old Playing Hockey Again After Brain Surgery to Eliminate His Seizures

11-year-old Landon McKee has made a heroic return to the ice.

The young athlete from Andover, Minnesota has played sports for most of his life, despite suffering from a medical condition called cortical dysplasia, according to CBS.

His condition caused seizures that would sometimes happen when he was on the field or ice. His coach at Flex Hockey, Jamie Barthel, told CBS, “I’ve never met a kid with more will and determination to play the game than Landon.”

Barthel said that the boy would “have seizures, sometimes right on the ice,” but that each time, “he’d always get back up.”

“He never wanted to stop playing,” Barthel said.

After undergoing a “high-stakes” brain surgery in November — after trying medications for years to no avail — the affected tissue was removed and McKee returned to the ice — finally seizure-free.

Dr, Meysam Kebriaei, a pediatric neurosurgeon at Children’s Minnesota hospital, told CBS that his team utilized “deep electrodes and imaging” to determine “exactly where” McKee’s seizures were starting. “We thought that he would be a very good candidate with seizure surgery to remove this cortical dysplasia, and thought we’d he’d have a very high chance of being seizure-free,” the doctor said, per CBS.

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After a successful operation, McKee hasn’t had a seizure. He told CBS that it’s “weird” to not be having seizures anymore — “but good weird.”

McKee also said that he refers to his surgery scar as his “badge of bravery” and proudly shows it off to his teammates.

His father, Dan McKee, was emotional while speaking with CBS about his son’s surgery. “Every door that felt closed before now feels open,” he said.

The new chapter for McKee has also been emotional for the medical professionals who cared for him. One of his nurses told CBS, “We don’t always get to see what happens after surgery. Seeing Landon now — it means everything.”