3 surgeries, MRSA, blood clots: Inside the months of recovery of Panthers’ DJ Wonnum
You wouldn’t be able to tell how much DJ Wonnum has gone through the past several months by looking at him, with his grateful smile beaming, with his mind and body at long last feeling “100%.”
But the Carolina Panthers pass rusher has stories.
Like the one about the week he spent in a hospital this summer after his third surgery of the offseason.
Or the one about how for six weeks he had a PICC line in his arm, a medical device that altered his every choice.
Or the one about the MRSA infection. Or the blood clots. Or the pleading with Panthers training personnel who weren’t only concerned with maximizing his football capabilities, but also focused on preserving his life.
“Can I practice today? Can I go? Am I ready?” Wonnum would ask.
“Nah, but you’re close,” they’d respond. “We’ll get you out there soon.”
Wonnum rolled through those stories Thursday, shaking his head in bewilderment throughout.
“It’s been a lot,” the 6-foot-4, 258-pound outside linebacker said Thursday. “I’ve taken 10 steps forward and 100 steps back within my journey.”
The Panthers announced on Wednesday that a bunch of players on the injured reserve list would have their 21-day return-to-practice windows opened. They included Adam Thielen, the veteran wide receiver who suffered a hamstring injury at halftime of the Panthers’ Week 3 win, as well as safety Jordan Fuller — adding to a list filled with other guys who are still waiting to be activated to the 53-man roster on this bloodied and bruised team.
But the most exciting return-to-play announcement this week, in many ways, was Wonnum. That’s true not only for the Panthers — who could desperately use the pass rushing talent that the Panthers signed him for ahead of the 2024 season — but also for Wonnum himself.
After all, it wasn’t all that long ago when the 26-year-old former USC Gamecock couldn’t work out without the aid of a “kitchen freezer.” Couldn’t shower without special equipment to cover his scars. Couldn’t start his day without taking blood thinners.
Couldn’t watch a practice without the feeling pervading his mind:
“I feel like I’ve been letting the team down.”
DJ Wonnum’s recovery: ‘It was real scary’
Wonnum’s long road to Thursday, finally feeling like himself again, began on Christmas Eve. He was playing for the Minnesota Vikings when he suffered a partial tear in his left quadriceps that ended his 2023 season.
Shortly thereafter, Wonnum had a procedure to repair that. Not long after that, he had another procedure because the stitches in his quadriceps weren’t dissolving properly into his body, so surgeons had to manually remove them. Then came a third surgery — which “was the same thing but also to address MRSA” in his leg.
MRSA — or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus — is a type of staph bacteria that can cause a range of infections, from topical embellishments to life-threatening conditions. Once that was detected, Wonnum said, he was laid up in an Atrium hospital for a week as doctors implanted a PICC line — peripherally inserted central catheter — that ran from his right arm into his heart to administer a special kind of antibiotic to expel the MRSA infection.
He had that PICC line in for six weeks, from mid-May to late June or early July, Wonnum said. And he couldn’t get the medical device wet.
“I couldn’t really do much,” Wonnum said. “So obviously I had the PICC line in, so I was telling them, ‘I need to work out, I gotta do something, but I can’t sweat.’
“So we’d go in there and work out, and as soon I feel a drop of sweat, I go to the kitchen freezer (in Bank of America Stadium) and try to cool off a little bit. And then go back out.”
Once the PICC line came out, just as the Panthers’ organized team activities began to wind down, Wonnum felt a tightening in his arm. A soreness. He later learned he had blood clots. Most of them were contained to the blood vessels in his arm, but they needed to be treated quickly. Blood clots, after all, can obstruct circulation, which could lead to serious issues such as strokes, heart attacks, pulmonary embolisms — medical emergencies that aren’t just career-threatening but potentially life-threatening.
Wonnum said he had been on blood thinners since well before the dawn of the season. He just got off them a few weeks ago. He’s spent the last few weeks making his body NFL ready after months of making it day to day, workout to workout. He feels like himself again now — “100% ready to go,” he said.
“It was real scary,” Wonnum said. ACL tears, after all, are devastating but everywhere. Same with broken bones and ankle sprains. But there wasn’t a road map for the trials Wonnum faced the past few months.
“You really don’t know what’s going to happen, what’s going to go wrong,” Wonnum continued. “So I just prayed.”
How Wonnum could help Panthers now
Wonnum indicated that he wouldn’t be ready to play Sunday, despite being eligible to be activated to the roster before the Panthers’ trip to Denver. He began the season on the physically unable to perform list.
Time, playing for a 1-6 Panthers team building for the future, is on his side.
But it’s no secret his return would be a big deal for Carolina.
He’ll certainly help out the pass rush. That’s particularly good news for Jadeveon Clowney, the outside linebacker Wonnum was meant to line up opposite from Day 1.
Defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero told reporters Thursday that he admired Wonnum for his accomplishments in Minnesota on the field — and he has “a lot of respect and high praise” for all he’s endured off the field in Carolina. Josey Jewell, an inside linebacker recovering from his own injury, was similarly complimentary.
“People will have the normal injuries, you know: Knees, ankles, hamstrings, stuff like that,” Jewell told the Observer. “That’s an interesting one for sure, with all the things added on. Again, just shows his toughness.”
Wonnum is coming off a season in Minnesota that saw him earn eight sacks and 62 tackles. He also notched a fumble recovery early on in the 2023 season against the Panthers — a game-changing, 51-yard scoop-and-score that delivered a badly needed Vikings win in Bank of America Stadium.
But as Wonnum’s return inches closer, as his old life returns — a new perspective emerges, he said.
“It just makes me appreciate all the little things,” Wonnum said. “Waking up and being able to stand on two feet and walk. It’s literally the little things that we take for granted every day. Being able to go get in the shower without having to put a whole cap over your leg and over your arm. It’s really just appreciation for life.
“I know a lot of people go through way worse things than what I’ve been through. So I don’t take nothing for granted no more.”
This story was originally published October 24, 2024 at 7:22 PM with the headline "3 surgeries, MRSA, blood clots: Inside the months of recovery of Panthers’ DJ Wonnum."
