I love football. It’s therapy. The hits are fine, but I’m much more into the chess match, sets vs. schemes and the brain game now that I’m older. Being weaned on the sport, I once asked why we weren’t allowed to cover kickoffs in youth football programs. “Too many injuries,” I was told.
Sadly, kick off coverage is where most of the life threatening football injuries occur, and it happened once again on Saturday, during the Rutgers v. Army game, when defensive tackle, Eric LeGrand dropped his head upon applying a hit to the kick returner.
He immediately dropped, his body seized momentarily, then slowly relaxed to the ground. It was haunting. He lie there for 7 minutes before they got him onto the backboard and off the field.
He was put into an immediate spinal surgery in an attempt to stabilize spinal function. At present, he remains paralyzed from the neck down.
If you’re curious if he’ll regain feeling in other parts of his body, or may potentially walk again, doctors are not dismissing the possibility.
It’s far too soon to offer any kind of prognosis, yet similar injuries, most notably the injury to the Buffalo Bills Kevin Everett in 2007, resulted in Everett walking again after immediate treatment and rehabilitation.
My prayers and thoughts are with this young man. I hope you’ll offer the same.
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