LSU's Mo Isom: From Bulimia and Tragedy to Top Goalie and Homecoming Queen

Trying to shed a “giant looking” image high school students placed on her (she’s 6-feet), Isom became bulimic. She progressed from barely eating, to making herself throw up 10 times a day, to then working out for close to six hours a day. When she realized that she did not have adequate energy to normally function, let alone play soccer, she turned to diet and energy pills.

After receiving a scholarship to LSU and graduating early, Isom made a promise to her mother that she wouldn’t fall back into her old habits. During her freshman season, she became the first goalie in LSU history to score a goal. You might remember the 90-yard bomb.

Despite continued success on the field, things didn’t get easier. Just a few months later, on January 2, 2009, her father committed suicide.

Isom left Baton Rouge on Nov. 25, 2009 eager to get home for the holiday. But late in her drive, around 1:30 a.m., a deer jumped out in front of Isom’s Jeep. To avoid the deer she jerked her wheel left and ended up on the center medium. Startled, she attempted to get back on the main road, but she pulled her wheel back to the right and lost control of her car. She smashed into an embankment where it flipped three times before landing upside down, wrapped around a tree.

Isom suffered a broken neck, broken ribs, damaged lungs, damaged liver and severe brain contusions. At this point, Isom had gone through more hardship in seven years than most people do in a lifetime. You couldn’t have blamed her if she gave up. Instead, she rehabbed and by the summer, she was cleared to play soccer again and was invited to practice with the U-23 U.S. National Team.

In the fall of 2010, she recorded the first installment of “Meaux Vs.” against wide receiver Russell Shepard.

[Pics via @MoIsom89, h/t: @aboveavgbeard]