Thursday's Washington Post has an article about Travis Roy and the kind
of recovery he probably faces after the injuries to his spinal cord from
the BG-NDSU game.  The article is written by a copy editor for teh Post
who was paralyzed 6 years ago when he was an athlete at Oklahoma State
University.
 
He says the nerves in the spinal cord are unique because they don't
regenerate.  Therefore, the ability to regain any function depends solely
on the extent of the damage to the cord.  He says that NY Jets lineman
Dennis Byrd, who broke his neck in a game, isn't walking because he was
more determined than others, but because the damage to his spinal cord is
minimal and that people shouldn't expect that Travis Roy can walk again
just by being determined - it will depend on the amount of damage to his
spinal cord.
 
The writer is still confined to a wheelchair, but says this is just the
beginning of Roy and his family coming to grips with what has happened,
putting in lots of work to regain any use of his body that's possible,
and learning that he can still have a good life.  He says that someday,
Travis Roy and his family will be able to look at the videotape of the
game and think of it as the day BU raised its championship banner instead
of the day his entire life changed.
 
He says that Roy had surgery to stabilize his neck last week.  Doctors
removed pices of his shattered vertebra from the spinal cord and inserted
metal plates, screws adn bone grafts from his pelvis.  His spinal cord
was found to be severely bruised, but fortunately not severed.  He spoke
to Lee Roy (Travis' father) last week at the hospital and the Roys were
receiving about 300 cards and faxes a day.  Lee Roy said everything was
overwhelming and reported that Travis was fighting pneumonia, but sat
upright last Wednesday.
 
The author says about his own injury, "After that day, I would spend six
months in rehabilitation hospitals learning to rebuild my life.  But the
rebuilding, and recovering, would take place after I was released from
rehab as I pursued my goals, received my college degree and understood
that nothing could kill my spirit - not paralysis, negative doctors or
people who look at my wheelchair and feel sorrow."
 
Carol
 
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