Brown Anticipates Living A Normal Life

Once Detroit Lions linebacker Reggie Brown found out how serious his neck injury was, he was no longer worried about his NFL career ending in just his second year.

He was, he said Tuesday, just happy he could walk and lead a normal life.

At 23, he has a full life ahead of him, although it almost certainly doesn’t include football. His first step: getting his college degree.

Brown’s playing career was cut short when he was injured during Dec. 21 in the regular-season finale against the New York Jets. Tests showed he suffered a bruise to two bones in his cervical spinal cord.

Doctors removed a small hipbone and used it, along with two titanium screws, to fuse and hold the bones at the top of Brown’s cervical spine.

It worked.

Dr. Ross Nockels, director of the Neurosurgery Spine and Trauma Program at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, said only two of 100 patients recuperate so quickly from such trauma.

Hours before his news conference Tuesday, doctors removed the metal mobilization halo brace Brown has worn for almost three months. It was replaced by a neck brace that would allow more movement.

Brown has been able to walk, and do most things he could before the injury.

Brown’s disability is called Central Cord Syndrome. People with that problem typically have some upper-body weakness.