Not only has Sewell taken away something from the experience, it has taught a lesson to others, including her head coach.
"What I've learned most is we're just playing a game," Flowers said. "It's supposed to be fun and to her it is because she's always smiling."
And now she is back, smiling, and hoping to lead the Spartans to an Alabama 6A state title, which would be the perfect ending to the story before she heads to the University of Alabama to further her education. She leads the team with 14 assists as a defender and has five goals. She made the first-team All-Metro squad and the All-Metro Tournament Team.
The year she missed, her freshman year, was the year that Mountain Brook beat Auburn High to win the state title, and a recovering Sewell could not be a part of it.
"It was hard because I wasn't a part of it," Sewell said. "Because all my friends were on the team and they won it, I was proud, but I wished I was a part of it."
Since then, she has been determined to get that championship ring that she would have received her freshman year if illness hadn't kept her from it.
"I haven't stopped thinking about it for the last three years," said Sewell, who won't play in college. "I really want it and to do it my senior year would be incredible."
As incredible a feeling as that would be, just imagine how she will feel after five years have gone by and she has hopefully been pronounced officially cured. After all she has been through, it's hard to imagine that day is rapidly approaching.
"That will be a good day," Sewell said. "There is still a little ways to go, but that will be a breath of fresh air."
