Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 12, 1993 TAG: 9302120063
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
PARALYZED JETS PLAYER RISING TO THE OCCASION
DENNIS BYRD is not supposed to be walking. Not this soon. Not with this kind of injury. But that's what he did on Thursday.\ The board-room door on the fifth floor at Mount Sinai Medical Center opened Thursday and Dennis Byrd walked in.
Walked right in.
Just like that.
Supported by crutches, trailed by his physical therapist and his wife, the football player who broke his neck on the field in November stepped slowly, perhaps 15 feet toward a chair and sat down.
It was a marvelous moment, a moment to cherish and cheer, a moment to reflect upon the power of the human spirit and will. The roomful of hospital workers, reporters and photographers remained silent, yet it was if everyone wanted to say "Wow!"
On the day before he is to leave the hospital and return home to Tulsa, Okla., Byrd shook hands with his doctor and then stood on his own behind a podium to celebrate a miraculous step in his recovery from his spinal cord injury.
"I am astounded," said Dr. Kristjan Ragnarsson, chairman of the department of rehabilitation medicine at Mount Sinai. "He's beaten the odds many times over."
The first time Ragnarsson met Byrd was the day after the defensive end was wheeled into Lenox Hill Hospital, paralyzed from a frightening collision on the field at Giants Stadium. The prognosis was not good. "He has made a truly spectacular recovery," Ragnarsson said.
Now it was Byrd's turn to speak. There was a microphone positioned on a table in front of where he sat. That would not do. Slowly, he stood and stepped to the podium. He would talk while standing.
"Well . . . " he sighed, letting the word out slowly in the silent room. "I'm proud to stand before you today." Then he paused. "Quite frankly, I'm glad to be standing anywhere today."
It was a little humor to release the tension. Then Byrd went through a four-page prepared statement, thanking the people who had helped him reach this point, doctors and staff at Mount Sinai, other patients.
Twice, he choked up, stopping to collect himself as his wife, Angela, wiped away a tear. "I don't know how to thank them for what they've done," he said. "I thank God for sending these people my way."
"You'd think I was accepting an Academy Award," he said, then made his way back to the chair. The professionals in the room did an unprofessional thing. They applauded.
Byrd said from the beginning he was convinced he would walk again. "I knew I could do it," he said. "This was something I felt in my heart. It was something I set my goals to. I'm grateful and thankful.
"The most meaningful steps for me were those with the crutches. They meant a lot of freedom. There was no water assisting me with gravity, no parallel bars. It was the freedom to walk where I want to walk and do what I want to do.
"It feels great to recapture a part of life I want so dearly back. One day, I'd throw the crutches aside. That's my next goal."
Byrd said the steps he took into the board room were among the hardest of all because he was nervous. "It was difficult, very difficult," he said of the short trip. "I've walked further than that with greater ease."
Throughout the news conference, Byrd tapped his right foot. It was something he had done proudly in his first public appearance a month ago, a demonstration of his progress. Now, it seemed second nature.
As the news conference ended, Byrd stood again, supporting himself on his crutches and walking back to the door. As he reached it, he leaned on one crutch, releasing his right hand. He turned and waved, extending three fingers on his hand.
It was sign language for "I love you."