Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 8, 1994 TAG: 9410110006
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ANDREA KUHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
It was the kind of Monday college students relish - a foot of snow on the ground, classes canceled.
Tuan Reynolds, a sophomore at Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va., called his mother in Roanoke but got no answer. He left a message on the answering machine.
``I love you, Mom,'' he said.
Reynolds placed another call to his fiancee and headed out to get lunch with some friends and teammates from the Marshall football team.
Afterward, the weather cried out for a serious snowball fight, then someone suggested the guys head over to an intramural field on campus for a game of touch football.
Roger Johnson, a defensive back for the Thundering Herd, recalled the pickup game as nothing out of the ordinary. The group of about 20 students were out there, playing in the snow, having fun.
``Then, all of the sudden, Tuan was laying on the ground. Everybody thought he was joking around, saying, `Come on, get up, get up,''' said Johnson, of Lynchburg. ``But, [Reynolds] said, `No, man. Something's wrong. I can't move.'''
Reynolds, whose voice still shakes when he recounts what happened, was making a ``tackle'' when his head struck the ground, leaving him frighteningly still.
``I tried, but my legs wouldn't move,'' he said. ``I felt numb. I knew something was wrong, but I thought, maybe it was just like hitting your funny bone or something like that. I didn't think it was severe because it didn't hurt.''
Reynolds, a starter last season for Marshall at defensive back, was rushed to Cabell Huntington Hospital, where doctors discovered a broken vertebra in his neck. The next week, he underwent a six-hour operation to fuse together his fifth and sixth vertebrae, but the surgery had limited success and Reynolds was left paralyzed from the neck down.
``We just stayed out there about a minute too long,'' he said.
A change in lifestyle
Nancy Eichelberger was on vacation in Mississippi that day nearly nine months ago, January, 17. The day her son's life changed - not stopped, but unequivocally changed.
Eichelberger didn't receive news of the accident until about 5:30 that evening and details were sketchy. Her first thought - and greatest fear - was that her oldest child had been in a serious auto accident, the kind that reduced cars to piles of twisted metal.
``I was just so glad when we got to the hospital that I had a warm hand to hold,'' Eichelberger said. ``I kept thinking, how many people don't have the opportunity to hold their child's hand and to see them smile? We could have been making burial arrangements.''
Reynolds was at Cabell Huntington Hospital two more weeks before transferring to Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center near Waynesboro. He spent the next four months there, learning to deal - physically, mentally and emotionally - with what he calls ``a change in lifestyle.''
While at Woodrow Wilson, Reynolds worked on regaining strength and movement in his arms and mastered using a power wheelchair. Adapting to life as a quadriplegic was difficult at first, he said, but not as bad as some would imagine.
``I think this might have been a blessing somehow,'' said Reynolds, with a stronger, assuring tone. ``Some other people, when something bad happens, the world just ends for them. They just want to lay there. I wouldn't do that. I had too much to live for.''
Therapists helped Reynolds set small goals, like eating and brushing his teeth. There also was his long-range goal, set the day he was released from the hospital in Huntington: return to college in the fall.
Moving on
Reynolds is back, wheeling around Marshall's rolling campus this semester. He lives in Holderby Hall, a co-ed dorm, where an attendant helps him get ready each day for a full schedule of classes, studying and other activities.
``I knew I was ready, mentally,'' he said. ``As far as physically, I could have waited a semester. I could have waited two or three semesters. But it's a slow process, seeing what you'll recover. Why wait all that time when you might still be the same as you are today?''
Reynolds is taking 12 credit hours and working toward a degree in counseling. He wants to focus his efforts on helping people with drug and marriage problems. He takes his own notes in class and spends time in the evening transcribing them onto a personal computer.
Like most college students, Reynolds worries about finding a job after graduation. He's particularly concerned that some doors may be initially shut on him because he is disabled.
``But that's just another obstacle in my way that I'll have to deal with when it comes,'' Reynolds said.
His mother sounds more confident.
``The only thing different about Tuan is that he can't get up and walk,'' said Eichelberger, who also has a 4-year-old son. ``As a parent, you want your child to be independent and self-sufficient. By going back to school, it shows me that he still is self-sufficient. ... I still expect him to get a job and support himself.''
Reynolds also plans on helping to support his son, Juwuan, born in March while he was at Woodrow Wilson.
``He is my life. It was really tough,'' said Reynolds, who explained Juwuan lives in Huntington with his mother - also a student at Marshall - and that he fits frequent visits into his schedule.
Reynolds' days will get even busier soon when he resumes physical therapy twice a week for a total of four hours. He does not know if or how much movement he will regain in his arms and legs and said that further surgery could be in his future after two years.
``Basically, the doctors have told me I need to wait for the spinal cord to heal to see what all I do get back,'' he said. ``It's a waiting game right now.''
Still a team player
Reynolds still considers himself a member of Marshall's football team, dropping in on practice and attending all home games.
He said he's grateful for the support and understanding of his teammates and the coaching staff. The players wear decals on their helmets bearing Reynolds' name.
An All-Timesland and All-Northwestern Region defensive back at Patrick Henry High School, Reynolds started all 15 games for the Thundering Herd as a redshirt freshman last season, including the Division I-AA national championship game.
``We're very proud of Tuan and the way he has worked to get in a position to be competitive in life,'' Marshall coach Jim Donnan said. ``He is very much a source of encouragement for his ability to make the most of what he has been handed in life.''
Before the Thundering Herd's four home football games this season, Reynolds has led the team out onto the field in his wheelchair, an emotional and exhilarating experience.
``The first time I led the team out on the field I felt a rush through my body,'' he said. ``It was like `I'm back.' The last time I had been in the stadium, it was packed with screaming fans for the championship game [which Marshall lost 17-5 to Youngstown State]. It was like a new beginning.''
Said his teammate Johnson: ``It's a rush for the whole team. To have seen him lying there helpless last January and then to see him on the field and how much progress he had made ...''
Reynolds is not bitter about not being able to participate as a player. In fact, his mother said, his attitude is quite the opposite.
``While he was home over the summer, he said something strange to me,'' Eichelberger said. ``He told me it was a good thing it happened to him because some people might not have been able to handle it. I thought, if it had happened to me, I think I'd be bitter and resentful. But Tuan is just the opposite, I think he enjoys [football] more.''
Reynolds said he considered himself a quiet inspiration to the team, ranked No.1 in the country and preparing to meet VMI today in Lexington.
``I'm someone for them to look at and say, `Hey, if he can come back in such a short time, we should be able to do certain things.'
``I want them and everyone to know that life is truly what you make of it.''
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by CNB