Walking Tall: Kevin Everett

On September 9, 2007, Everett sustained a fracture and dislocation of his cervical spine that his doctors characterized as "life-threatening" the day after the injury, and stated it is likely to leave him with permanent neurological impairment. However, on September 11, 2007, Everett showed significant movement in his arms and legs, which led doctors to speculate that he may eventually be able to walk again. Everett walked in public for the first time at Ralph Wilson Stadium before the Bills home finale against the New York Giants on December 23, 2007.

Kevin Everett was born February 5, 1982 in Port Arthur, Texas. He played tight end for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League. He played college football at the University of Miami. Everett attended Thomas Jefferson High School in Port Arthur, Texas, where he was a three-year letterman in football and won Class 5A All-State honors in 2000. Kevin Everett attended Kilgore College in Kilgore, Texas for two years, where he was a two time first-team All-Southwest Junior College football conference pick, ranked the second best junior college player in the nation.

Everett struggled with injuries almost from his first day of play with the Bills, having missed the 2005 season after suffering a torn knee ligament on the first day of 2005 minicamp. He was placed on the physically unable to perform list on August 10, 2005, and on injured reserve on November 30. Everett returned to play in 2006, where he participated on special teams for most of the season. He made his first career start on September 10, 2006 at New England. On October 1 of that same year, Everett made his first career NFL reception.

Seventy-one thousand fans watched the Bills' 2007 season opener. As Everett lined up for the second-half kickoff against the Denver Broncos, he told teammate Anthony Thomas to keep an eye on him. He knew he was going to make the tackle. The kickoff sent the ball end over end into a gray sky. What happened next would make anyone wish it had never come down.

Everett raced down the field and went in for the tackle of the Bronco's Domenik Hixon. Everett's helmet collided violently with the side of Hixon's helmet and shoulder pads, and Everett dropped to the ground, face-first. Facedown on the field, Everett was desperately trying to lift himself off the turf. "I was like, 'I got to get up,' because I heard my teammates saying, 'C'mon, get up, let's go,'" Everett recalled. "I couldn't move. I tried."

An eerie silence draped over the stadium, as players from both teams knelt in prayer and the Bills medical staff surrounded Everett on the field. Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Andy Cappuccino, the Bills' spine specialist, was quickly by Everett's side, and recalls asking, "Kevin, can you move your arms and legs?" Cappuccino says Everett's response was, "I am moving them." "No, Kevin, you're not moving them," Cappuccino told Everett.

Kevin Everett sustained a neck injury that resulted in his transport off the field by ambulance and emergency surgery. The injury was described as a cervical spine injury. Following the lengthy surgery, Everett's agent, Brian Overstreet, expressed hope that the injured player would be able to walk, but aside from his eyes, Everett had not shown any signs of movement on the field after sustaining the injury. Dr. Cappuccino was Everett's attending surgeon, and described the injury to Everett's spinal cord as a "scissoring" or "pinching" injury. Kevin's neck was dislocated between the third and fourth vertebrae, and the bones were pinching his spinal cord. "The ligaments are destroyed, the tendons are destroyed, so the only thing holding his head on his shoulders really is the skin on his neck and the big muscles," said Cappuccino.

Dr. Cappuccino repaired the fracture between the third and fourth vertebrae in a procedure that included a bone graft, the insertion of a plate and four screws in Everett's spinal column, and the relief of pressure on the spinal cord. However, Cappuccino gave the player a "statistically very small" chance of walking again. Dr. Cappuccino originally stated that he believed Everett would sustain "permanent" neurological damage, and used terms such as "bleak" and "dismal" to describe the outlook for a case he frankly described as "life-threatening", giving Everett less than a 5-10% chance of regaining full utilization of his physical capabilities.
Until September 11, Everett remained on a respirator, but was able to breathe on his own while it was briefly turned off. Cappuccino described Everett's respiratory risks as among the issues he described as "life-threatening" as well as how techniques, such as intravenous methods to reduce Everett's body temperature in an attempt to reduce the swelling, were performed in order to make operation easier. Cappuccino described Everett as an "NFL athlete [with] a warrior's mentality," who showed concern primarily for his family, and who asked doctors to do everything they could for him.

On September 12, Dr. Cappuccino and supporting neurosurgeon Dr. Kevin J. Gibbons reported that Kevin had been able to slightly move his arms and legs and also wiggle his toes. However, he could not move his hands. Also in that report, it was stated that Kevin had been taken off the respirator and was able to breathe on his own. On September 14, Fox Sports reported that Everett had begun to regain movement in his right hand. On September 17, 2007, he regained movement in both hands and was steadily regaining strength in his legs, and on September 20, Dr. Barth Green told the Associated Press that Everett will be able to stand and walk within weeks, and perhaps sooner.

"The rest of this story is about Kevin Everett and the warrior that he is and his mom and his fiancee not giving him one ounce of slack," Cappuccino said. "I have never seen one come this far, this fast." And the milestones kept coming.
With his family looking on, Everett took his first steps exactly one month after that terrifying collision in Buffalo. "I was so proud of him. I was laughing and crying at the same time," Everett’s mother said. "He's a tiger, you know, he's strong. His inner strength … they can't tell Kevin what he can't do."

By October 1, 2007, Everett had been relocated to Houston, near his family and off-season home, where he began a long rehabilitation that doctors believed would lead to his eventually walking again and possibly even making a full recovery. Working in his favor was his age, the incomplete nature of the spinal cord injury, his constitution, and exceptional physical condition at the time of injury, as well as the rapid treatment he received. On October 16, Everett was been able to walk "to an extent." On December 7, Kevin was able to walk on his own power, but did not have full movement.

On Sunday, December 23, 2007, the Buffalo Bills and their fans received an early Christmas present, Kevin Everett walked on the field of Ralph Wilson Stadium for the Bills season home finale against the New York Giants. Coincidentally, Domenik Hixon was on the Giants team at the time of the game after being from released by the Broncos. On January 31, 2008, Everett appeared on Oprah, clearly able to walk under his own power.

On April 9, 2008 Everett underwent more surgery to relieve persistent pain in his neck. On May 12, 2008 Everett was waived by the Buffalo Bills to allow him to be eligible to immediately apply for lifetime disability benefits. The Bills kept Everett on the active roster prior to waiving him to ensure that he completed three full NFL seasons, allowing him to qualify for a full pension.

On July 20, 2008 Everett was awarded the Jimmy V award for perseverance at the 2008 ESPY Awards for his heroic recovery from neck injury that threatened his chances of walking again, defying the odds and "never giving up" - something Jimmy Valvano said himself at the 1993 ESPY Awards.