David Thompson remembers the day when he was riding a bike and the pain his arm became unbearable. This was in March 2014, during his sophomore year at the University of Miami, where Thompson hoped to establish himself as an impact player for the Hurricanes baseball team.
“We had just played Georgia Tech,” said Thompson, now a third baseman with the Brooklyn Cyclones, the Mets’ Single-A affiliate. “The next day when we got home I was on a bike ride and all of sudden I couldn’t hold onto the bike anymore. Then the next couple of days when I tried to play baseball, my arm swelled up and I couldn’t feel my fingers and they were turning a little bit purple.