Taliaferro's Tale Offers Hope For Paralyzed Rutgers Player
By GENARO C. ARMAS
AP Sports Writer
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Adam Taliaferro's first instinct was to cringe when he heard of the spinal cord injury suffered by Rutgers' Eric LeGrand.
More than four days have passed since the defensive lineman was paralyzed after making a tackle last week against Army. Some doctors believe that a patient with a spinal cord injury has little chance of recovery if there isn't at least some feeling or movement within a 72-hour window.
Taliaferro is proof otherwise.
The former Penn State defensive back has been defying the odds since his inspirational recovery from a similar injury following a tackle at Ohio State a decade ago. While doctors and Taliaferro say that every case is different, Taliaferro is ready to offer LeGrand and his family any help and encouragement when ready.
"For me, after 72 hours, I still wasn't moving anything. I didn't move anything until about a week and a half" after the injury, Taliaferro said in a phone interview Wednesday night. "I could be wrong. A lot of it is still fuzzy."
This much isn't: About three months after his helmet collided with the knee of Buckeyes tailback Jerry Westbrooks on Sept. 23, 2000, Taliaferro was walking again with the aid of crutches. He was able to ditch the crutches the following April.
After a grueling rehabilitation, Taliaferro walks with barely a limp, just noticeable enough that a few strangers will ask if he sprained an ankle or hurt his knee. Sometimes, Taliaferro will just go along if he doesn't have time to tell his whole story.
"That's the thing I tell people: Not everyone is going to come back at the same pace," said Taliaferro, 28, now a lawyer in Cherry Hill, N.J.
Rutgers coach Greg Schiano told reporters Thursday in Piscataway, N.J., there were no updates he could share on LeGrand, who is being treated at Hackensack University Medical Center. He said the team has been focused this week in practice for Saturday's game vs. Pittsburgh, though things have been quieter than normal.
"Although I told them, Eric doesn't want us and I don't want you to have a mope on. That isn't him and that isn't us," Schiano said. "I don't want to say it's (all work) but they're laughing and they're enjoying each other, but probably not at the level that it's been some other weeks."
Over the weekend, Schiano, a former Penn State assistant, reached out Nittany Lions coach Joe Paterno. Schiano, obviously, was seeking advice in dealing with this type of injury, and Paterno learned quite a bit during Taliaferro's recovery.
While there is no clear diagnosis of the extent of LeGrand's injury, Taliaferro has heard enough to know the arduous recovery that possibly lies ahead. His father, Andre, spoke with Schiano on Sunday to pass along Taliaferro's contact information.
It's the kind of interaction Taliaferro makes regularly to such patients across the country. They've heard his story, which Penn State team doctor Wayne Sebastianelli calls a "miracle."
They've scoured the Website for information on his Taliaferro Foundation, which provides financial, emotional and educational support for athletes and others who have suffered spinal cord injuries.
"Certainly, when it first happens, you always cringe," said Taliaferro, who is engaged to be married next September. "For me, I kind of say this is an opportunity to give back any way I can. I look back at my injury, and I had a lot of people pulling for me."
Taliaferro and his family offered similar encouragement to Cornell basketball player Khaliq Gant after the guard dislocated two vertebrae in his neck in a collision with two teammates that left him temporarily paralyzed in January 2006. Gant underwent a seven-hour operation to fuse the vertebrae and secure them with plates and screws. He started walking about four months later after following extensive rehabilitation.
"From Day 1, I had the confidence that everything happens for a reason, and that I was going to be OK," Gant said in a phone interview. "I don't know why, because doctors told me I wouldn't. But internally, I had that motivation to get back to where I was before."
Now a wine consultant based on Long Island, N.Y., Gant has sent a message to Rutgers offering help. He also walks with a barely noticeable limp.
Taliaferro and Gant say any encouragement helps, no matter how small the gesture.
On LeGrand's side is that he's an athlete used to pushing "your body to the limit," Gant said. "That's exactly what the rehab process is. It's definitely a strain mentally to be able to stay focused every day."
Sebastianelli spoke at a Taliaferro Foundation dinner in Philadelphia on Saturday night, hours after LeGrand was injured, though news of the injury wasn't widespread then.
Since Taliaferro's injury, doctors have a better understanding of how to treat such patients, from immediate concerns like the proper way to remove equipment, to medication protocols, to surgical procedures, Sebastianelli said.
What doctors still don't fully understand, he said, is how much bruising the spinal cord can take before determining the extent and course of recovery.
"It's trying to position that person so that they have the opportunity, if the miracle is going to occur, so that you've taken advantage of everything to get him to that point," Sebastianelli said. "I think that was done very well with Adam, and God blessed us with him saying, 'OK, I'm going to give you that little bit of divine intervention to make it work.'"
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http://www.taliaferrofoundation.org/
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
