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TagsDoctors comment on nature of spinal cord injuries
BY BOB HOLT
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
Five different football players suffered head injuries Sunday in a particularly violent weekend in the NFL. But when Rutgers' football player Eric LeGrand smashed his helmet, at full speed, into the shoulder of an Army kick returner on Saturday, it became the most serious. LeGrand remains paralyzed from the neck down today in the intensive care unit at Hackensack University Medical Center.
Doctors performed delicate decompression surgery Saturday evening to stabilize the spine of the 6-foot-2, 275-pound junior and today were still trying to understand the extent of his injury.
NJ.com captured video footage of the play that led to the LeGrand injury.
Dr. Andrew Hecht, the director of spine surgery in the Department of Orthopedics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, told the Asbury Park Press that LeGrand's fracture at the third and fourth cervical vertebrae is not unlike the one suffered by former Buffalo Bills player Kevin Everett, who was able to walk four months after breaking his neck in an NFL game three years ago.
Doctors at the Hackensack University Medical Center addressed the media Monday about spinal-cord injuries, but declined to take questions related to the treatment of LeGrand, with Hecht noting the prognosis likely depends on "whether he had a complete injury or an incomplete injury."During a news conference, Dr. Roy Vingan of the Department of Neurosurgery at the Center said the first three days are crucial to making a prognosis. Asked if a person with a spinal-cord injury can resume normal functions, he said, "If by 72 hours there is no activity or no motion, then chances are very minimal."
Vingan emphasized that for the first three days, doctors essentially wait for the swelling in the spine to subside to determine the extent of the injury. "It's not necessarily going to change how we treat that patient, but more what we can tell the family of the prognosis of recovery," he said.
All five concussions suffered by NFL players on Sunday occurred from helmet-to-helmet contact.
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Predicting an outcome, especially in the initial hours after a spinal cord injury, can be difficult. In 2000, Adam Taliaferro from Voorhees,was paralyzed while making a tackle for Penn State in a game against Ohio State. Doctors told his parents their son would probably never walk again, but three months later he walked out of Magee Rehabilitation Hospital in Philadelphia and today is a practicing attorney.
An Associated Press story on NorthJersey.com reports Rutgers coach Greg Schiano and some teammates visited LeGrand after the game. Safety Khaseem Greene went to the hospital on Sunday with defensive lineman Scott Vallone, offensive lineman Devon Watkis and linebacker Marvin Booker.
According to the Asbury Park Press, LeGrand was on oxygen and still a bit disoriented after surgery when Vallone visited him. But LeGrand was nonetheless able to communicate with his buddy.
"I let him know I was there," Vallone said Monday during a media session. "I told him I loved 'im, and he acknowledged that I was there. His eyes opened wide."
"Eric has a presence to him," senior defensive tackle Charlie Noonan said. "His smile, as soon as he walks into a room, he can light a room up. He's just a hard worker. He's just — I don't have any sisters — but he's just the kind of kid you'd want your sister to date. He's just a really good guy."
Senior Antonio Lowery didn't sleep much Saturday night. "It hurts," he said. "You just keep praying for him. It's all we can do right now."
