Tulane safety Devon Walker has better chance of recovery with recent medical innovations

A spinal cord injury used to mean an undoubtedly bleak future for an athlete.

But with widespread advances in care, patients such as Tulane's Devon Walker, who sustained a cervical spine fracture (broken neck) Saturday against Tulsa, have new hope of potential recovery.

The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, co-founded byspinal cord injury victim Marc Buoniconti, his father and NFL Hall ofFame linebacker Nick, and Dr. Barth Green,is an organization that has devoted years to uncovering groundbreaking medical treatments for such spinal cord injuries.

"It's a different picture than it was before," Green said. "When I was being trained at Northwestern, I was taught that no (paralyzed) patient would ever walk again. And we know that's not true.

"It's very common to have a broken neck without paralysis. Those patients are paralyzed if the force is high enough to crush the spinal cord. Somewhere between 40 and 60 percentof those with complete paralysis (no movement or sensation below) won't walk again. Some will improve naturally, a 5 to 10 percent range ... and some will improve with advancements in research."

On the cutting edge of that research is a hypothermia treatment in which a patient's spinal cord is cooled.

The cervical spine is composed of seven cervical vertebrae, according to the North American Spine Society. The majority of fatal spine injuries occur along the C1 and C2 vertebrae. The exact extent of Walker's cervical injury is unknown.

Tulane Coach Curtis Johnson said Thursday that he talks to Walker's parents daily, and the latest update was Walker remained alert and responsive at St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa, Okla.

"It hasn't changed right now. He had the surgery and he's rehabbing and doing what he's supposed to do," Johnson said. "It's tough to have one of your sons, one our comrades gone away from us."

Marc Buoniconti, whosuffered a C3 cervical injury while making a tackle for The Citadel football team in 1985,saidspinal cord care has advanced leaps and bounds since his injury 27 years ago.

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Tulane safety Devon Walker has better chance of recovery with recent medical innovations