Posted on 09/10/2007 6:04:04 PM PDT by commish
It was eagerly anticipated news when the Bills provided an update on Kevin Everett Monday afternoon, following his game halting spine injury on the second half kickoff of Sunday's loss to Denver. But the update only gave a clearer picture as to the severity of what is still a potentially lethal injury, and the steps that were taken to give him the greatest chance for recovery.
Everett suffered a fracture dislocation between the third and fourth cervical vertebrae. So there was an injury to the cervical spine and cervical spinal cord. But the spinal cord was intact. There was disc material pushing on the cord and bone was applying pressure as well.
"The vertebrae were out of alignment," said team orthopedist Dr. Andrew Cappuccino, who specializes in injuries of the spine. "The vertebrae of the spine line up like box cars of a train. The third cervical vertebrae had translocated completely over the front of the fourth cervical vertebrae causing a scissoring effect on the spinal cord."
"Emergency decompressive surgery was performed Sunday night to prevent pinching of the spinal cord," said team medical director Dr. John Marzo as part of a Monday afternoon press conference at One Bills Drive.
The surgery was performed by Cappuccino and Dr. Kevin Gibbons at Millard Fillmore Gates Hospital in downtown Buffalo after consent was granted by Everett who was awake and alert along with his mother who was reached by phone. The surgery lasted about four hours as Everett had his third and fourth vertebrae fused together.
"Dr. Gibbons and myself worked first on the front side of the cervical spine to remove the disc, realign the spine and to fixate the spine between the third and fourth vertebrae with a bone graft, with a small cage, and with a plate and four screws," said Cappuccino. "We had the spine in good alignment and it was confirmed on all x-ray studies."
The second half of the surgery involved placing Everett face down.
"A second incision was made on the back of his neck," said Cappuccino. "The spine was decompressed or the pressure was relieved. The spinal cord was completely decompressed and the spine was fixated from the back with four screws and two small rods. At that point in time an intra-operative ultrasound was performed to evaluate the cord, the covering of the cord and the cord itself were completely intact and looked good."
Everett, who spoke to his mother personally before the surgery, said he did not want her to worry and that he loved her and his sisters and that he would get better according to Cappuccino. His mother has since arrived in Buffalo from Texas and seen her son in his sedated state.
Following surgery he was placed in the intensive care unit and was put on a respirator by choice as high cervical spine injuries carry a greater risk of respiratory failure if respiratory support is not provided. Everett was also placed in a deeply sedated drug-induced state to protect the integrity of the surgical procedure.
Prior to putting him in that state, Everett had decreased sensation, but the ability to feel all of his limbs. This test also showed voluntary movement in his legs, though it was being stated by the doctors that it is only a preliminary result and should not be construed as a positive or negative result, nor is it a prognosis. It's being labeled an incomplete spinal cord injury.
The doctors at this time do not know whether the injury will contract or expand from this point forward. An accurate prognosis will likely not be determined for another 72 hours at the earliest.
Dr. Cappuccino cautioned that Everett is still considered to be in a life-threatening situation, though his chances are improved following surgery.
"I want to caution everyone to understand that this was early in the healing phase and this is not a prognostic indicator and this young man suffered a potentially lethal and grave injury," said Cappuccino. "So we are still gravely concerned."
On the positive side Everett's high fitness level as an NFL player is deemed an asset in his battle to recover from this severe injury according to the physicians.
As far as assessing Everett's chances of walking again Cappuccino said the tight end's chances are not good.
"By life I'm an optimist, but as a scientist and a clinician I have to tell you statistically the chances of that occurring are very small," Cappuccino said.
According to Cappuccino, Everett remembered the entire play that led to this severe injury. Prior to surgery the team's spinal specialist informed Everett that his chances for a full neurologic recovery were less than five to 10 percent and that surgery was his best alternative but still an option. Everett chose surgery.
"Kevin said, 'Do everything that you can to help me with this,'" said Cappuccino.
The Bills had high hopes for Everett this year, and he was becoming a big part of thier passing game.
In another interview on TV, the Doctor described the injury as "Catastrophic" and "life-threatening" and said that Everett was extremely lucky to be alive, that he had come within a fraction of an inch of severing his spine completely during the tackle.
I agree. Sorry to see this happen to anyone. Prayers for him, his family, friends and team members.
Tragic, and a reminder of the risks involved in football.
This guy played for Thomas Jefferson High School in Pt. Arthur, TX. He was a solid kid. Prayers go out for a normal life. Just saw his grandfather on TV and the family is hopeful.
“Sorry to see this happen to anyone. Prayers for him, his family, friends and team members.”
Agreed, cannot be said often enough.
“Sorry to see this happen to anyone. Prayers for him, his family, friends and team members.”
“Sorry to see this happen to anyone. Prayers for him, his family, friends and team members.”
“Sorry to see this happen to anyone. Prayers for him, his family, friends and team members.”
“Sorry to see this happen to anyone. Prayers for him, his family, friends and team members.”
Spinal cord stenosis is very serious and can lead to many possibilities, none of which are good.
Prayers up from a Bronco fan.
“Sorry to see this happen to anyone. Prayers for him, his family, friends and team members.”
However, this brings up a bigger issue. When is the NFL going to ban that kind of tackling? Every time I see a player lead with their head like that, I cringe. It happens every game and nobody says a thing. If the guy had gotten his head up, it would have been a normal tackle.
My son is in 7th grade and plays, and I made sure he watched the video more than once as I hammered home the same thing his great coaches yell on almost every play:
"GET YOUR HEAD UP!"
Once again, I hope he defies the odds and makes a recovery. My prayers are with him.
Isn't that tremendously good news?
I'd say it's very hopeful, given that he has sensation and some voluntary motion. But the docs are being very guarded, so we probably should be as well.
Man, but I hate these sorts of injuries.....
However the spinal cord has taken a severe trauma, and there is a great chance of swelling over the next 48-72 hours that could furthur damage the cord.
The amount of trauma to Everett's spine makes the chance of a full recovery almost nil, and it is most likely he will suffer from paralysis of some type, but the movement and feeling are good signs, and there is always hope.
Everett will never play football again, but we can all pray that he recovers to the point of being able to lead a long and healthy life.
Is there any video on the web of this injury? I caught a glimpse of it and was wondering about how it happened.
Prayers from a Dallas Cowboys fan to him and his family. It’s one thing to try and beat the hell out of the opponent. This is a totally different thing. Godspeed to all involved.
It was really a freak accident.
Prayers for Mr. Everett.
Derrick Thomas of the KC Chiefs had a similar injury (though he suffered it in an auto wreck. He probably would have been fine had he been wearing his seat belt).
Unfortunately Thomas died of complications from his injury - a pulmonary embolism.
Mark
It seems to me that the cord was only bruised and it would make sense that it would affect him now. Since it’s intact and he has feeling and motion, it would seem like we could hope for the best.
I hope they use what they learned from Christopher Reeves about PT and spinal cord injuries. I heard that he was actually making progress in nerve repair with his very intense PT regime.
That’s a serious risk with any injury that immobilizes you in any way, even something as common as a hip fracture, where you can sit up and move around some. In this case, where he’s going to not be moving for some time, it’s a much greater danger.
For comparison, Mike Utley suffered a C6-C7 fracture. He has sensation across his chest, and breathes spontaneously without assistance. Christopher Reeve suffered a C1-C2 fracture. A severe spinal cord injury above C3 will typically require mechanical ventilation permanently, in the extremely rare event the injured patient survives the immediate injury.
One more item of note--en route to the hospital, the first responders cooled Everett's core body temperature to minimize tissue damage in the critical minutes following the injury. In light of the perilous fracture and injury, this was a masterful action by the medical team.
p.s. I worked for several years in Neuro Intensive Care. We had spinal cord injury patients in the unit every day.
I don’t think Reeves was making progress......did they help him to keep his limbs from contracting?..yes, probably.....
nurse, what have you heard about high doses of steroids immediately following this kind of horrible injury?...is there hope in that?
How similar was Everett’s injury to Dennis Byrd’s.
Byrd was eventually able to make a full recovery, so hopefully that’s a good sign for Everett.
I’m a Bengals fan. I was at their second game last year vs. the Browns when David Pollack went to tackle Browns running back Ruben Droughns. He tackled with his head down, and his neck snapped back. He had to be immobilzed and carted off the field. He had to have surgery and wear a halo on his head with pins going into the neck. He could still walk and move. He’s out this year, but things have gone better than they expected. He may be able to play again next year.
This is very sad. My prayers up up for Everret. I know he won’t be able to play football again, but hopefully he can at least be able to function normally. It’s going to take a lot of hard work and faith in God to get through this.
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