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Two Men, Two Flips of Fate
Posted: Wednesday February 02, 2000 08:37 AM
Two NFL stars. Two days. Two seat belts unbuckled. Two horrible accidents. The police who arrive at the first wreck say they've rarely seen a car so crushed after flipping. They're sure the occupants are goners. But the first star, St. Louis Rams Pro Bowl wide receiver Isaac Bruce, crawls out of it, hardly needing a Band-Aid. His girlfriend is also fine. The police who arrive at the second wreck are surprised the car isn't more damaged after flipping. But the second star, Kansas City Chiefs Pro Bowl linebacker Derrick Thomas, is carried away by ambulance, no feeling in his legs. His best friend is dead.
The other man, Thomas, knows he has to make an adjustment, too. After six hours of emergency surgery on Jan. 24 at Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital, he woke to find himself paralyzed from the chest down. His Super Bowl Sunday goal is to find the courage to let himself be lifted out of his bed and into a wheelchair for his first ride into a future he never dreamed of. Surrounded by his new teammates -- his mother, his surgeon, his therapists -- in a room papered with banners from well-wishers, it's too much. He decides not to try. His head sinks back into the pillow. He's covered in hugs. "Tomorrow," says Barth Green, the University of Miami spinal-cord specialist who operated on him. "Tomorrow he gets in the wheelchair. Today, with the game on and everything, it's very tough." In Atlanta, Bruce's tomorrows are all limos and roses. He wears a Super Bowl championship hat, a Super Bowl championship T-shirt and a smile you can't buy. "Coach [wide receivers coach Al Saunders] told me to work hard and good things will happen," Bruce says. "He was right." In Miami, Thomas wears a rigid collar around his neck, a plastic shell around his chest and a deadness in his eye you can't miss. He hasn't shaved, and he's hardly eaten in a week. He's listening to a pep talk from two more new teammates -- Nick and Marc Buoniconti. Nick is the bustling former All-Pro linebacker for the Miami Dolphins; Marc, his son, is in a wheelchair, left crippled by one play with The Citadel in 1985. Together with Green, they helped start the Miami Project, a 120-scientist dream to cure spinal paralysis. The Buonicontis tell Thomas that if he's ever going to walk again, it will be through the Miami Project (800-543-WALK). They tell him if he works hard -- raising cash and hope -- good things will happen. Thomas hopes they're right.
"Do you ever think about Thomas and say, 'That could be me'?" I ask Bruce. "Oh, no, not at all," Bruce says. "Why not?" I ask. "Because as I was flipping, I threw my hands off the wheel and called Jesus' name." "Does that mean God doesn't love Derrick Thomas?" I ask. "Oh, no," Bruce says. "I don't know what Derrick said as his car was flipping." "What about Payne Stewart? He was a Christian man. Does that mean God didn't love Payne Stewart?" "I have no idea what Payne Stewart said in that plane that day." "Well, are you saying if Payne Stewart had invoked the name of Jesus Christ, he'd be alive today?" "Oh, definitely." "What about the Columbine High student who was asked by one of the killers if she believed in God? She said yes, and he blew her away. How can that be?" "You don't know what she said, do you?" "There were witnesses." "But you weren't there, right?"
Issue date: February 7, 2000
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