TBO.com - Live in the moment

Returning To The Game After A Broken Neck

By ADAM ADKINS The Tampa Tribune

Published: Sep 18, 2007

TAMPA - The Cambridge Christian football team may have lost Friday night, but senior Taylor Cabral experienced his own victory at the end of the game.

Cabral was still on the field and able to walk off on his own power after a 28-10 loss to Lakeland Santa Fe Catholic. The last time the Lancers played host to the Crimson Hawks, that wasn't the case.

Never in Cabral's wildest dreams did he think he'd end up in the hospital after suffering an injury on the field. After all, throughout his youth football days he was the one dishing out the pain.

But the unthinkable happened to Cabral on Oct. 21, 2005. The then-undersized sophomore defensive back found himself at halftime being whisked away via ambulance to the hospital after suffering a broken neck while trying to make a tackle.

"I never thought of myself as getting hurt," Cabral said. "And then 'boom,' a big reality check."

While Cabral fully recovered from the injury and is currently a standout senior running back for the Lancers, an injury like the one he suffered two years ago illustrates the dangers players face on the football field. And seeing an injury like the one sustained by Buffalo Bills second-year tight end Kevin Everett, who suffered a spinal-cord injury while making a tackle and is still hospitalized with the possibility of paralysis, brings to the forefront the potential life-threatening and life-altering injuries football players at all levels face every time they put on the pads.

According to the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research's annual survey of catastrophic football injuries, in 2006 the incidence of catastrophic injuries was 0.55 per 100,000 participants. While a minor number of catastrophic cervical spinal-cord injuries have occurred - only 269 cases are documented by the survey across all levels of football from 1977 to 2006 - the heartache those cases can cause is unmeasured, not only for the victims but those associated with the event.

Younger football players are more prone to suffering catastrophic neck and spinal-cord injuries because their necks are not as strong and their technique is not as refined, which often leaves them in improper positions, said Johnny Benjamin, chief of orthopedic surgery at Indian River Medical Center in Vero Beach and a fellowship training spinal surgeon. The statistics in the NCCSI survey back that up: of the 269 catastrophic cervical-cord injuries on record, 222 were high school football players.

That's why Benjamin said it's a must for trained personnel and an ambulance to be on hand at every high school football game, so if a serious neck or spinal-cord injury does occur it can be identified and stabilized immediately.

"The first hour is the most critical," Benjamin said. "That is what we call the golden period."

The FHSAA Board of Directors recommends each host school have a physician as well as an ambulance present or readily available for each game. According to Hillsborough County assistant director of athletics Jennifer Burchill, the county provides an ambulance and EMT staff for every varsity and junior varsity football game. While it is not required by the county athletic department for a physician to be present at each game, Burchill said she believes most of the county's programs comply with the state's recommendation.

In Cabral's case, there were trained medical personnel on the sidelines for that game against Lakeland Santa Fe Catholic. Cabral said he wasn't sure what happened when he attempted to tackle running back Ryan "Bubba" Faiola.

Cabral went to the sidelines, where he was looked at by Jaime Pirone, a licensed athletic trainer assigned to the team by the Florida Orthopedic Institute, according to Lancers coach Rick Shears. After a few minutes, Shears said Pirone informed him Cabral had possibly suffered a broken neck and that he needed to be transported to the hospital immediately.

After undergoing X-rays and an MRI at the hospital, Cabral was diagnosed with a Clay Shoveler's fracture of the neck. The tip of Cabral's C-7 vertebrae had been severed as a result of the violent whiplash effect caused from his helmet-to-helmet collision with Faiola.

However, Cabral didn't need surgery. His vertebrae, which had spun around, shifted back to its normal position, which essentially caused the tip to be severed.

Instead, Cabral remained in the hospital four days before being fitted with a neck brace, which he was required to wear for 16 weeks. While paralysis was not a threat, Cabral was told his football playing days likely were over.

Seven months of physical therapy followed when the brace came off, and football was still on Cabral's mind. And when Cabral met with his doctors following the end of his rehab, he was delivered the good news: he had fully recovered, enough so that he was given medical clearance to return to the field.

Shears admits he was a little reluctant upon hearing that news.

"I mean, he was medically cleared, but I couldn't wait until he had that first hit to see how he would respond," Shears said. "Now, there's really nothing. He plays like he always played; there's no let-down whatsoever."

He has thrived since taking over as the team's starting running back. Entering Friday's game against Santa Fe Catholic, Cabral had a streak of five consecutive 100-yard rushing performances, dating to last season. The streak was snapped, though Cabral still ranks among the county's leaders with 439 rushing yards through three games.

Cabral now wears a neck brace with his pads, but he claims he doesn't think about the injury much, especially when he's on the field.

However, that wasn't the case when he saw replays of Everett, the Buffalo Bills player, lying on the field during the NFL's opening week.

"That sent chills down my spine. It made me feel sick," Cabral said. "I consider myself to be a very, very, very lucky person. Not a lot of people can say that they've had a broken neck and still play football."

Reporter Adam Adkins can be reached at (813) 657-4533 or aadkins@tampatrib.com. Keyword: Preps to view an interactive presentation on proper tackling techniques and how to help prevent neck injuries.