Description
A senior at Arkansas Tech University turned to UAMS Health in the scariest of moments for an athlete. Doctors said Clarence “CJ” Johnson came close to never walking again.
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Transcript
Alyson Courtney:
After a football accident, one man was close to never walking again.
Clarence “CJ” Johnson:
I really couldn’t see anything. And I was kind of panicking because I couldn’t breathe that good.
Courtney:
What doctors at UAMS found and his journey to taking another step.
Voiceover:
From the station that’s on your side. This is Channel 7 News Daybreak.
Chris Kane:
A senior at Arkansas Tech turned to UAMS in the scariest of moments for an athlete.
Courtney:
Doctors say Clarence “CJ” Johnson came close to never walking again. Kaila Lafferty is here this morning with his story. Kaila.
Kaila Lafferty:
Good morning, Chris, Alyson. Well, Johnson was just a toddler when he first picked up a football and his passion led him to a spot on the Arkansas Tech football team. He was playing in the fourth quarter in a close game when everything changed in the blink of an eye.
Johnson:
I was having a really good game and then got down to the fourth quarter.
Lafferty:
CJ Johnson went in to break up a pass by the opposing team.
Voiceover:
There is an Arkansas Tech player shaken up.
Johnson:
When I went in to make the tackle, the collision hit. I kind of blacked out a little bit.
Voiceover:
The injured Arkansas Tech player is CJ Johnson.
Lafferty:
He came to and instantly knew something was wrong.
Johnson:
And I really couldn’t see anything, and I was kind of panicking because I couldn’t breathe that good
Lafferty:
At the hospital, doctors knew he needed to see a specialist. He was flown to UAMS.
Dr. David Bumpass:
Any delay in care could have resulted in a much worse situation for him.
Any numbness in the hands?
Lafferty:
UAMS orthopaedic spine surgeon Dr. David Bumpass took a look at CJ’s X-rays.
Dr. Bumpass:
He severely fractured his fifth cervical vertebra. The fragments of that were pushing backwards near to the spinal cord.
Lafferty:
Dr. Bumpass says this type of fracture often causes paralysis in patients. He took CJ into surgery.
Dr. Bumpass:
We removed most of this entire vertebra and then put a plate very similar to this one over the front of the spine to give that some additional stability after we put a strut of bone graft in the place of where the vertebra was.
Lafferty:
The surgery was a success.
Johnson:
The feeling and stuff was coming back in my arms. It was like a full-body stinger.
Dr. Bumpass:
He really did wonderfully and that was very encouraging for us to see.
Lafferty:
C.J. described his situation with one word.
Johnson:
Blessed.
Lafferty:
Well, CJ no longer plays football, but he’ll be getting a degree in electrical engineering this year and is excited to pursue a career after graduation.
