Bills tight end may never walk again

[riverside sluggers]

roto

According to ESPN, Bills TE Kevin Everett fractured and dislocated his neck. His ability to walk again is reportedly in question.

 

Everett reportedly had some feeling and movement in his extremities and has was doctors are calling "incomplete paralysis." It may be two or three days before an official prognosis is made.

 

Tragic, tragic story. The Pats' Daryl Stingley had that happen in 1979

[jacksonianmarch]

It may be weeks to months before we know the density of his paralysis. Tragic story. Good luck kid. It is so crazy to see a top notch, professional athlete become an invalid in a moment. Reminds us all of how fragile even the most built, monster sized athletes truly are.

[jacksonianmarch]

Sounds bad, really, really bad.

[YanksHater213]

sorry man... thats terrible

[yankeessuck013]

I've watched the replay of the tackle several times and I still don't understand what happened other than maybe he twisted his neck in a weird way.

 

It's times like these that we realize that it is just a game and there are things far more important

 

My prayers to him and his family. Hopefully he can make a full recovery and be back to his normal self.

[Quinny]

i connot begin to put myself in his position. I feel really bad and my prayers will be with him.

[yankeessuck013]

Bills' Everett voluntarily moves arms, legs

 

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Kevin Everett voluntarily moved his arms and legs on Tuesday when partially awakened, prompting a neurosurgeon to say the Buffalo Bills' tight end would walk again — contrary to the grim prognosis given a day before.

 

"Based on our experience, the fact that he's moving so well, so early after such a catastrophic injury means he will walk again," said Dr. Barth Green, chairman of the department of neurological surgery at the University of Miami school of medicine.

"It's totally spectacular, totally unexpected," Green told The Associated Press by telephone from Miami.

 

Green said he's been consulting with doctors in Buffalo since Everett sustained a life-threatening spinal cord injury Sunday after ducking his head while tackling the Denver Broncos' Domenik Hixon during the second-half kickoff of the Bills' season opener.

 

Everett dropped face-first to the ground after his helmet hit Hixon high on the left shoulder and side of the helmet.

 

Asked whether Everett will have a chance to fully recover, Green said: "It's feasible, but it's not 100 percent predictable at this time. ... But it's feasible he could lead a normal life."

 

On Monday, Bills orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Andrew Cappuccino, said Everett likely wouldn't walk again.

 

"A best-case scenario is full recovery, but not likely," said Cappuccino, who operated on the reserve tight end. "I believe there will be some permanent neurologic deficit."

 

Cappuccino and officials at Millard Fillmore Gates Hospital did not immediately return several messages left with them by The AP.

 

In a report Tuesday evening, Buffalo's WIVB-TV quoted Cappuccino as saying: "We may be witnessing a minor miracle."

 

Bills owner Ralph Wilson said the team has been in contact from the beginning with Green and the Miami Project, the university's neurological center that specializes in spinal cord injuries and paralysis.

 

Everett's agent, Brian Overstreet, also said Everett's mother told him the player moved his arms and legs when awakened from a deeply sedated sleep.

 

"I don't know if I would call it a miracle. I would call it a spectacular example of what people can do," Green said. "To me, it's like putting the first man on the moon or splitting the atom. We've shown that if the right treatment is given to people who have a catastrophic injury that they could walk away from it."

 

Green said the key was the quick action taken by Cappuccino to run an ice-cold saline solution through Everett's system that put the player in a hypothermic state. Doctors at the Miami Project have demonstrated in their laboratories that such action significantly decreases the damage to the spinal cord due to swelling and movement.

 

"We've been doing a protocol on humans and having similar experiences for many months now," Green said. "But this is the first time I'm aware of that the doctor was with the patient when he was injured and the hypothermia was started within minutes of the injury. We know the earlier it's started, the better."

 

Everett remains in intensive care and will be slowly taken off sedation and have his body temperature warmed over the next day, Green said. Doctors will also take the player off a respirator.

 

Cappuccino said Monday that the 25-year-old did have touch sensation throughout his body, showed signs of voluntary movement and was able to breathe on his own before being sedated. But he cautioned that Everett's injury remained life-threatening because he was still susceptible to blood clots, infection and breathing failure.

 

Green noted that Everett and Wilson have ties to Miami and the Miami Project — Everett played there and Wilson is one of the project's largest donors.

 

"It's an amazing group of circumstances. It's a home run. It's a touchdown," Green said.

 

good for this young man that hopefully he will get to lead a normal life.

[inkman]

good for this young man that hopefully he will get to lead a normal life.

 

Being a Bills fan (yes they suck, I suck, the city of Buffalo sucks, and so does the animal), I am very encouraged with the prognosis and hope he continues on the road to recovery. Some very innovative medicinal practices.

[See Red]

I remember the first day of football practice in High School and every other level, one of the absolute first things they went over was to keep your head up when trying to tackle somebody and they would keep saying that over and over again. Well, here's your reason why. The contact wasn't anything out of the ordinary, but he put his head down and that's what did it. You can watch that tape a hundred times and not understand how that particular hit would handicap a man, but when you don't keep your head up -- it happens. Very sad to see. It's great to see he's moving on his own. I hope he can fully recover and be able to live a normal life again.