North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum was injured, but says he will still participate in the GOP debate

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum said Wednesday he will participate in the Republican primary debate despite being rushed to the emergency room Tuesday night after injuring his left leg while playing pickup basketball with his staff.

he Books on XFormerly known as Twitter, “I subscribed” including a picture of his orthopedic shoes and crutches.

The post came shortly after he spoke to reporters while inspecting the debate stage in Milwaukee on Wednesday afternoon, saying he was going to a professional to determine if he would be able to run for the debate.

Burgum, who uses the same crutches and wears an orthopedic shoe featured in his social media post, said he was told in the emergency room he had a “high-grade tear” in his Achilles tendon.

“We were having a great game of catch and going aggressively into the hoop and boom. Anyone who’s ever had this know what it’s like. It’s like, you know, you get shot like a coyote in the back leg.

When asked by ABC News’ Arthur Jones about the pain he was feeling, Burgum seemed to become emotional.

“The pain is relative, but I’m telling you, I’m lucky. I didn’t have a complete tear—you know—the ER thinks I have a high-grade tear, rather than a complete tear.” He said.

“If I had a complete tear, it would be a different story, but so far, it’s pretty good, but you know, I’m someone who has never taken prescription painkillers and I don’t do that today. Even though people said it was a good idea,” he said. Because I better – better – I mean a lot of Americans make a lot of sacrifices, think about law enforcement, think about what they’re doing militarily for all of us.”

“I mean, if you’re going to drive this country, you have to be able to stand on one leg for two hours. You know, it’s not like that, it’s not Dancing with the Stars. I mean, come on. So, I mean, I’d have to scratch if it was So, but I mean, yeah, pain is not a factor – pain is not a factor at this point.”

Borgum to publish Around noon Wednesday, “I’ve played so many little games in my day! This isn’t the first time someone has sent me to the ER. I appreciate all the well wishes!”

Campaign spokesman Lance Trevor said basketball was Borgum’s way of relieving stress.

“Obviously everyone has a different way of de-stressing. So Governor is a high school basketball player, he’s a track runner. He’s a very active person. He’s on the ranch in North Dakota all the time. Basket, a small game with some employees and some of his family. Last night, he went up to shoot, came down and kind of hit his leg and had to go to the hospital,” he said.

Burgum is one of eight GOP candidates slated to take the stage in Milwaukee.

It was the news of Burgum’s injury mentioned by CNN.