Pima Athletic Trainer Becky Fajardo embodies resilience on the field | News

TUCSON, Ariz. (KVOA) – It’s game day for Pima College Baseball. 

As players rake the infield, athletic trainer Becky Fajardo finishes her pregame prep.

“We have our emergency bags, our Normatecs for our after and between game care and then a game ready,” she said.

Once the game begins, she hopes she can just watch. 

“We don’t want to have to go to work during a game,” Fajardo said. “We watch what’s going on: Mechanics of a pitcher, seeing someone run down the line. If something looks a little suspect we jump into action.”

Fajardo’s passion for helping student-athletes sparked after she tore her ACL and MCL in high school. 

“I wanted to be at the scene with the students,” she said. “Seeing them when they got hurt and seeing them eventually return to play.”

Fajardo has seen pitchers throw plenty of curveballs over the years, but she has been dealt a few of her own. It started one morning when she woke up and lost part of her vision.

“If you were looking at a clock, from nine to noon was just black,” she explained. 

Fajardo immediately went to the doctor. 

“As they progressed through their tests, I realized it wasn’t my eyes,” she said. “It was my brain. They confirmed that. I found out I had a stroke.”

She was 29 years old. 

“It was the shock of I’m not even 30, I had a stroke,” she said. “I had no family history. It just blindsided me.”

In her mid-30s, another curveball. Fajardo was diagnosed with breast cancer. 

“Six weeks of radiation every day drains you a bit,” she said. “Having people to pick you up on the days you don’t’ feel so great really means a lot.”

Years later, Fajardo still feels the effects.

“If I don’t have my hat on, it goes from really bright, to a dark hole to really bright,” she said. “It just gives me a headache.”

That has never dimmed her outlook on life. 

“What do you get out of being in a bad mood? Just making other people grumpy. If I can bring a positive note to the start of their day then I’ve done my job.”

“When we go into the training room, she’s always positive,” Leon Cereceres said. “Always trying to brighten our day, push us a little bit. She’s very motivational too.”

Her message to players like Cereceres is one of resilience and hope. 

“Everyday is a new day,” she said. “You may have had a bad day yesterday. You may have had a bad day an hour ago. Life isn’t fair. It throws you curveballs. It’s about the perspective to say keep moving forward and do the best you can do.”