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.
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?
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
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.
Poor guy. I hope he recovers. His family must be beside themselves.
Prayers for Kevin. Please God, allow this man to walk again.