Hopedale Teen Breaks His Neck In Defensive Football Tackle
HOPEDALE (CBS) --Hopedale high school senior Brian Cerow has a broken neck, and yet, he said he still feels lucky.
"I'm going to be able to walk again and that's a miracle right there in itself," said Brian.
Last week, on his first defensive play, Brian went head first into the Bellingham's quarterback. "Coming in, leaning head-first, but improper form though, made the tackle, but at a large cost: I broke my neck," he said to WBZ-TV. "It is probably the scariest moment of my life, when I heard that crack."
Brian, the captain and starting running back and linebacker for the Blackstone-Millville football team, broke his neck in three areas. Amazingly, doctors told him he is not paralyzed.
"Listen to your coaches. Keep your head, honestly, up all the time. You got to keep that proper form...this is why," said Brian, pointing to his neck. "They are not kidding when they tell you that you can hurt yourself doing it the other way."
Jennifer Convery, Brian's mother said, " he still has a long journey but it's a journey that has an end."
Brian is being treated at Boston Children's Hospital.
Over the past few days his teammates, classmates, family, friends, even opposing teams have rallied around him and even helped raise more than $10,000 for medical bills.
"Just the encouragement that they been giving me is something that I couldn't even ask for. It's something I wasn't expecting," said Brian.
"I'm alive and I'm still kicking so it's going to take more than that to take down Brian Cerow."