Thursday, July 12, 2007 1:10 AM CDT
A promising sign for an EIU star
Sellers remains positive during injury recovery
By RICK DAWSON Staff Writer
rdawson@jg-tc.com
Ten months after a brutal special teams collision left him face down on the turf at Illinois’ Memorial Stadium, Clint Sellers is thankful his condition isn’t worse. He might be without the use of more than one limb or confined to a wheelchair. Instead he received a hopeful sign on Sunday.
A surge went through the arm the former Eastern Illinois football player had seemingly suffered irreparable damage to, the first movement he had experienced since receiving a nerve transplant and coming out of surgery to repair his brachial plexus eight months ago.
Sellers said that he had just been talking to a co-worker who told him that she had lit a candle for him in the church she attends near his Chicago home.
“Probably 15 minutes later a big pain went through my arm that I’d never felt before,” Sellers said. “I was cringing. I could feel my arm flexing a little bit. After work I went over to Ray and Kathy Donato’s house (parents of former teammate Mike Donato). All of a sudden they could notice that my arm was moving.”
What made it so unexpected was the fact that doctors had told him if he didn’t feel anything within six months of surgery, the chances it would ever happen would be unlikely. That time had come and gone. When Eastern Illinois defensive coordinator Roc Bellantoni was informed by Sellers of his experience, he called it an answer to prayer.
“I’m really excited,” Bellantoni said. “It’s something we’ve been praying for since it happened.
“It took a while and hopefully it’s something that will continue to improve. I’m sure he’s got a long road ahead of him but this is a step in the right direction. I love the kid and just want to see him get back to as full and normal a life as possible.”
Sellers remembers it well, the first play during the first game of his senior football season. E.B. Halsey was returning the opening kickoff and Sellers, a preseason All-America linebacker and the heart of Eastern Illinois’ defense, was the first to get there. The two met shoulder to shoulder with a dreadful thud near the 15-yard line.
Halsey wandered back to the sideline. Sellers remained on the field motionless.
“When I hit him I was paralyzed from the neck down,” Sellers said. “A lot of people don’t know that. I was paralyzed from the neck down for a while. I remember (EIU head athletics trainer) Mark Bonnstetter, (assistant trainer) Jenn (Tymkew) and the doctor standing over me. I was face down and couldn’t move and couldn’t feel anything. Then everything came back except my right arm. I told Mark I wasn’t going to be taken off on an ambulance and a stretcher. I was going to walk off the field under my own power.
“It was a pretty big adrenaline rush when all the feeling came back in my body. When I got back to the sideline and sat down my arm really started hurting terribly.”
It would be the last tackle of his college career. He’s fine with that. He’s also remarkably positive in light of another possibility: Told to keep exercising the arm, Sellers is to return to see his doctor in St. Louis on Aug. 8. More surgery is forthcoming.
But he’s not out of the woods yet.
“Amputation’s still a big possibility in my mind, especially if the surgeries don’t work like they’re supposed to,” he said. “That’s something that took a while to realize. But I have realized that. I went through stages of denial, depression, acceptance. It’s changed my life in a major way. You ask anybody who knew me before the injury and my outlook on life, my actions, what I was doing compared to now — I’ve done a 180.
“I realize how blessed I am that I’m not completely paralyzed. Losing an arm compared to my whole body, that’s not a big deal for me.”
Even if he does recover, he knows his chances of having a fully functioning right arm are weak at best. He left college after the injury and may finish his coursework online. But he is also considering returning to Eastern. They are decisions that depend on the outcome of future medical visits.
He’s keeping everything in perspective. Every day he witnesses slight improvement, from his elbow to his shoulder.
“This doesn’t mean anything as of right now,” Sellers said. “We still have to be real patient. We still have years to go.
“A lot of people know about (the movement). I’ve just had a huge response from people, saying congratulations, letting me know that they’re praying for me. That’s one thing that’s good, that there are people out there who are praying for me and there for me. I have that support.”
Contact Rick Dawson at rdawson@jg-tc.com or 238-6855.
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