Tulane’s Devon Walker (video below) actually breaks his neck during a game today. It was an awful sight, and it happened during a collision with his own teammate. Thankfully he will survive, but so far it’s unclear exactly how bad things will get for him.
Tulane was squaring off against Tulsa today when the horrific collision occurred. It not only left him with a broken neck, but a collapsed lung, and a fractured spine. Those are three injuries that can be fatal.
The incident happened during a normal play, where a short pass was caught, and the receiver turned to run. After that, Walker, who is a safety, smashed heads very hard with another defender from his own team.
He was hurt bad, and out on the ground. He had to be revived, and even needed a tracheotomy. Doctors confirmed later that when injuries to the spine occur in just the right place it can actually prevent people from being able to breath on their own.
This is pretty disturbing stuff, but his trainers said that he was stable when he was being transported to the hospital where he is now in the intensive care/trauma unit.
Players gathered to pray in the middle of the field, and stadium fell silent. From there, it was out of everyone’s hands, and they could only hope.
Tulane went on to win the game, but most people were more concerned with the injured player.
According to ESPN, Walker is a cell and molecular biology major. That leads me to think that he had high hopes beyond football also. Some players major in ridiculous majors, with only the hopes of becoming an NFL player.
We can only hope that he recovers quickly, and we can pray that he will walk again. I’m guessing he will have some permanent effects from this, but the best case would be that he can play football again some day.
Watch Devon Walker video where he breaks his neck below. We will keep him in our thoughts until he recovers.
