Defying the odds; from micro-preemie to pro-athlete

At 6’1” and 260 pounds, it’s hard to imagine that professional rugby player Emerson Prior was ever small for his age. Not just small, born weighing just three pounds at KGH in 1998, Emerson was in fact what’s known as a micro-preemie.

He and his family spent weeks in the Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) before he was strong enough to move home, a common story for many families in southeastern Ontario. Kingston Health Sciences Centre’s (KHSC) NICU is one of just a few level 3 facilities in the province, that provides care for babies who have been born extremely premature, are critically ill, or require surgery.

While he obviously doesn’t remember his time in the hospital, it had a big impact on his entire family.

“I would hear stories from my mom about my time in the NICU and how great the nurses were. Then, when I was young, my mom went back to school to become a nurse. Looking back, it was inspiring to see her with a young family, working, and studying to improve our lives,” he recalls. “Between watching my mom, and hearing stories about being in the NICU and how the nurses cared for me so well, it made me think that nursing was a cool profession.”  

After falling in love with rugby while in high school, Emerson found a path to pursue his two interests at the same time. He enrolled in the nursing program at Trent University, a school that also has a competitive rugby program.

“I was able to play a few years of varsity rugby and we did well in my final year. I got to captain the team and we went further than any team in school history.”

His rugby dreams took another leap forward when was recruited to the under-19 Canadian national team, playing matches in Whales and Romania in 2019. However, the world soon changed as most rugby leagues and matches were postponed indefinitely as the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Unfazed, Emerson shifted gears, moving to British Columbia to attend a rugby academy and finish up his nursing degree.

“I graduated in 2021 and started working right away as a nurse at hospital in Victoria and worked through the some of the heaviest waves of the pandemic, while also training with the academy team.”

It’s clearly a blend of two passions that works. On a whim, as pandemic measures started to ease, Emerson entered the Major League Rugby draft and was selected by the Utah Warriors. He quickly signed a two-year contract and pow plays professionally in Utah from January to July and works as a nurse during the offseason in Victoria.