Buffalo Bills tight end Kevin Everett suffered a severe spinal cord injury on September 9, 2007, while making a tackle on a kickoff against the Denver Broncos in the first game of the 2007 season. Initially, Everett was unable to move and doctors feared he would be paralyzed for life, but they have become more optimistic as some muscle movement returned and Everett has been able to sit up in bed.
While Everett’s injury remains life-threatening, many are crediting the player’s dramatic recovery to date to an experiemental therapy performed on Everett immediately after his injury that involved lowering his body temperature by injecting him with a chilled saline solution. One of the major proponents of the therapy, Dr. Barth Green, described the therapy as analogous to an ice pack for the spine, helping prevent swelling and further damage. Dr. Green, chairman of the neurological surgery department at the University of Miami School of Medicine, added that paramedics anywhere can be trained to administer the moderate hypothermia therapy.
