Nia James says when doctors weren’t taking her pain seriously, her athletic trainer and Elon alum John Lavender ’94 was her lifesaving advocate.
As Nia James prepares to graduate from college, she’s thankful for many things, but there’s one person she’s extra grateful for: Elon University alum John Lavender ’94.
“I feel like he was placed in my life for a reason,” said James.
In 2022, James, a graduating senior and former volleyball player for Winston-Salem State University, experienced a devastating knee injury during a game in Raleigh, North Carolina. While WSSU athletic trainer Stephanie Davis came to her side at the game, Lavender, head athletic trainer at WSSU, rushed from Winston-Salem to Raleigh to be with James. In addition to her injuries, doctors discovered James had blood clots in her legs, so she was temporarily prescribed medicine before further treatment.
“I just remember that night, my chest hurt so bad,” she said. “I have asthma so we were like ‘maybe it’s your asthma kicking in.’ I couldn’t sleep that night.”
James, who is from Northern Virginia, called her mom who advised her to contact Lavender.
“He’s like, ‘OK, don’t move, don’t do anything. Just stay where you’re at,’” said James, who was then taken to the hospital. “I was in a lot of chest pain, waiting and waiting and waiting, and then finally somebody came in and they saw me.”
While James says hospital staff were not alarmed by her condition, considering she was a healthy 19-year-old student-athlete, Lavender was not convinced. She says he pulled the medical staff aside and urged them to do a CT scan.
“I’ve been doing this for a long time,” said Lavender. “When you know someone, a young, healthy twenty-something shouldn’t be acting like this. Medical personnel in the emergency room are just going to get you stabilized; that’s the purpose of going there. I just knew something was wrong and I just kept pushing.”
Lavender’s feeling was correct. Doctors discovered James had blood clots in all five lobes of her lungs, requiring an overnight hospital stay. Lavender stayed with her until her family could arrive from eight hours away.
“I just remember thinking, I don’t know what would have happened if I didn’t have John. I could have died,” said James. “I will never forget that moment.”
His commitment didn’t stop that night. James said he also made sure she could be seen by doctors on campus when she couldn’t drive and worked with her on rehabilitation following surgery. Lavender says he wants to create good relationships with all his student-athletes and those bonds are special.
“One of the main reasons I took this job is because HBCUs have notoriously been underfunded, underappreciated and swept under the rug. Kids haven’t been given the best healthcare opportunities; it was really important for me to change that,” said Lavender.
I feel like he was placed in my life for a reason.
-Nia James, speaking about John Lavender ’94
Born with a brain tumor, Lavender says he was “behind the ball” his whole life, but he was helped by a lot of people who gave him opportunities, and he wants to pay that forward.
“If a doctor or adult says something, kids will listen to them, and just take them at face value, and they shouldn’t, because they don’t really understand what’s going on,” said Lavender. “So I’m able to kind of explain it in a way that makes sense to them.”
Lavender graduated from Elon in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in exercise physiology. He worked closely with Martin Baker, senior associate athletic trainer, who says Lavender was the first of many students from Elon to pass the National Athletic Trainers’ Association board certification.
“Elon gave me the foundation,” said Lavender. “Marty Baker allowed me the opportunity to work with a variety of sports. It seems like I spent more time with him than I did in my social life. I try to mimic what he did and allow our students to continue and move forward in the profession.”
James thanked Lavender in an Instagram story post, saying she is “forever indebted” to him. Lavender says the recognition is welcome after the recent passing of his wife.
“All of my students have been very supportive of me, Nia has been very supportive of me and to do something like this when I’m hurting, it just helps reiterate that it’s meant for me to be here,” Lavender said.
To honor Lavender, James is working to develop a scholarship fund for students who want to study sports-related fields.
“I know he was just doing his job,” said James. “But it just means so much to me to know that he was there for me. He just loves his job and he loves his student-athletes so much that he’s willing to do whatever to make sure that they’re OK.”