Rutgers Defensive Tackle Paralyzed from Neck Down

[Woy]

http://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/index.ssf/2010/10/adam_taliaferros_message_to_ru.html

 

[jeffx]

I'm not a religious person, but it seems to be working since he regained a little movement today.

That's encouraging news.

 

[jms493]

another reason to not throw your kid in football....little did he know that would be the last time he runs......ever. Fucking awful.

Makes you appreciate the ability to just get and go to the bathroom all by yourself.

 

[jms493]

hope he can get some movement back.....

 

[Cody]

Horrible News. Will be in my thoughts and prayers.

 

[FedEx227]

Keep him in your prayers, however. I'm not a religious person, but it seems to be working since he regained a little movement today.

I hope he makes it through but c'mon man... that's a horrible chain of logic.

I do hope he makes it through though and can at least have some movement. I watched the video when I really shouldn't. Broke my heart to see his body go cold like that.

 

[FedEx227]

another reason to not throw your kid in football....little did he know that would be the last time he runs......ever. Fucking awful.

Makes you appreciate the ability to just get and go to the bathroom all by yourself.

Yeah, there's absolutely no way a kid of mine is going to play football. Sorry, but between concussions, neck injuries, knees, back, etc. No way. Sorry.

 

[jeffx]

Yeah, there's absolutely no way a kid of mine is going to play football. Sorry, but between concussions, neck injuries, knees, back, etc. No way. Sorry.

Exactly. Now we all enjoy hard-hitting football, but shit like this reminds you how brutal the game is.

 

[DJ Rhude]

That was very chilling to see....can only hope for the best for the kid......something horrible like that happening to an athlete is not only tragic for him, but it affects the loved ones around him as well.....I hate to see that

I got two small sons at home and my boy keeps trying to get me to put them in peewee football with his son...I said no way fucking way.....baseball, or basketball is fine, but not football....he had the nerve to call me soft and shit, but if not wanting to subject my babies to a violent contact sport is soft, just call me charmin

 

[FedEx227]

If you want your kid to play, that's absolutely fine. I'm not going to do a holier than thou "do as I say" thing, if you feel fine letting your kid play football more power to you, I'm just not comfortable doing it. I'd rather a kid of mine play a less contact sport and not risk brain damage or serious injury as seriously as they would in football.

 

[DJ Rhude]

If you want your kid to play, that's absolutely fine. I'm not going to do a holier than thou "do as I say" thing, if you feel fine letting your kid play football more power to you, I'm just not comfortable doing it. I'd rather a kid of mine play a less contact sport and not risk brain damage or serious injury as seriously as they would in football.

Exactly.....I never condemned him for putting his kid in football.....that's on him, not me to judge.....I just had a problem with him trying to question my judgement......it's my choice just like it's his...but who's to say my kids won't be attracted to playing football somewhere down the line? especially when they see they're dad always watching it

I was at a peewee game some years ago, saw a kid's arm get snapped in two like a fucking twig.....

 

[x0xHumblex0x]

i let my eldest play Football 3 years ago in our town Travel team and even tho i never said anything about it to him, i was nervous everytime he carried the football.

so; i am actually glad he decided not play after that season. same goes for my youngest son and he was playing SS so he pretty much was involved in all plays and hits.....

can you imagine the guilt you would have to live with if you were the one that hit that player and caused that type of injury???
what could you possibly say to the parents and loved ones??

 

[jms493]

Its seems like every week there are multiple head injuries/concussions. Is this happening more or is the league being more precautious?

 

[x0xHumblex0x]

not sure if anybody saw this yet but i just did:
http://www.aolnews.com/health/artic...ric-legrand-faces-long-shot-recovery/19678201

 

[FedEx227]

Its seems like every week there are multiple head injuries/concussions. Is this happening more or is the league being more precautious?

Become more and more publicized. Which is a good thing. It's always happened, just wasn't reported really... just "got his bell rung", etc.

 

[jeffx]

Become more and more publicized. Which is a good thing. It's always happened, just wasn't reported really... just "got his bell rung", etc.

...and the league wants to go to 18 games. The players union should not go for this.

 

[FedEx227]

Well here's my thought. If you've gotten to this point of playing football, you've obviously made the choice that you don't really care about your body. You know what I mean? There's a huge difference in talking about the youth and NFL players. I'm not saying it's alright that these guys are dying and drooling when they are 45, but I feel like at this point you probably know the risks, your parents probably knew the risk (high school).

 

[Rayman]

Well here's my thought. If you've gotten to this point of playing football, you've obviously made the choice that you don't really care about your body. You know what I mean? There's a huge difference in talking about the youth and NFL players. I'm not saying it's alright that these guys are dying and drooling when they are 45, but I feel like at this point you probably know the risks, your parents probably knew the risk (high school).

My parents wanted no part of my playing ball as a kid. I actually had to beg in oder to join my junior high school team and wasn't allowed to try out for the freshman team until after they had gone to camp. I was 2 months behind all of my other teammates.

I was pretty proud of the fact that I was starting wideout by the 3rd game that year. My technique was horrible, though.

 

[strahanfan92]

NEW YORK -- Eric LeGrand, the Rutgers defensive tackle who was paralyzed from the neck down in a game against Army on Oct. 16, says he has regained full sensation in his entire body and movement in his shoulders.

LeGrand, 20, revealed the news in an exclusive first interview with ESPN's Tom Rinaldi, which will debut during the 9 a.m. ET edition of "SportsCenter" on Friday.

The 6-foot-2, 275-pound junior fractured his C-3 and C-4 vertebrae while making a tackle on a kickoff return and admitted in the interview that he feared for his life immediately after suffering the injury.

"Fear of death, that's the biggest fear that I got because I couldn't breathe the way I was breathing and I couldn't move," LeGrand said. "Laying out on the ground, motionless, not being able to breathe was the hardest part in thinking, can I die here?"

After nine hours of emergency surgery to stabilize LeGrand's spine, doctors initially gave him a 0-5 percent chance of regaining neurologic function. LeGrand's mother, Karen, said that she never gave him that information.

"I didn't want to hear that two percent of the people with this injury can walk, or five percent regain this, or -- I didn't want to hear about percentages because my son, in all honesty, is not a percentage," Karen said. "My son is my son. ... And nobody knows him, nobody knows the will that he has, nobody knows the faith that we have."

Six days after surgery, LeGrand first moved his shoulders. In early November, he was taken off a ventilator and was breathing on his own. He was transferred to the Kessler Institute in West Orange, N.J., to continue his rehabilitation.

In mid-December, LeGrand had another breakthrough. For the first time since the injury, he had sensation in his hands.

"I always rub his hands as he's laying there," Karen said, "and I think he said, 'I feel that. I think I feel that.' I'm like, what are you talking about? He's like, 'I think I feel something -- you rubbing my hands. I can feel my hands.'"

"As my mom, she placed her hand on me, I was like, 'Wow! I felt that.' And that was just a big shock and it was just like, 'Wow! It's coming back. It's coming back.'"

LeGrand remains at the Kessler Institute, and still faces a long and difficult road ahead, in terms of his rehabilitation. But he is brimming with optimism.

"I believe that I will walk one day," LeGrand said. "I believe it. God has a plan for me and I know it's not to be sitting here all the time. I know he has something planned better for me."

 

[EmpireWF]

Nice start.