Eric Newby

Eighteen-year-old Eric Newby came to SSM Rehabilitation Hospital in June 2006 after a serious car accident injured his spinal cord, leaving him with paralysis from the chest down and almost no movement in his arms.

“I could only move one arm at the elbow,” said Eric, recalling his first day in rehabilitation.

Just four days earlier, on the day of his high school graduation, the car he was riding in flipped over less than two miles from home. In the accident, Eric twisted his neck and fractured his collarbone. He was flown by helicopter to Saint Louis University Hospital, where he underwent a grueling 10-hour surgery, followed by four days in the trauma ICU before being admitted to SSM Rehabilitation Hospital.

“At that point, I was just mad that I still couldn’t walk or run,” said Eric. “I thought [paralysis] was like the flu; that it was going to go away.”

“He had no idea what paralyzed even meant,” said Eric’s mom, Nancy Newby, who -- as a nurse herself and president and CEO of Washington County Hospital & Rural Health Clinic in Nashville, Ill. -- understood very well the reality of Eric’s condition. She recalled how her athletic son had no balance and coordination in the beginning, unable to even sit up for the first three weeks.

Today, it’s hard to keep up with Eric as he races across the court at North Technical High School in a wheelchair specially designed to handle the very physical sport of wheelchair rugby. Eric is the youngest member of the St. Louis Rugby Rams, a wheelchair rugby team whose members are all quadriplegics, mostly from St. Louis and Illinois. The team practices three hours a day, twice a week, and plays in 8 to 10 tournaments a year.

“He is addicted,” said Nancy, of Eric’s passion for his new sport. At some point during his eight week stay at SSM Rehabilitation Hospital-St. Mary’s, one of Eric’s therapists gave him a movie to watch. That movie was Murderball, the story about a group of quadriplegic rugby players. Eric said he probably watched it 20 times.

The day after he was discharged from SSM Rehabilitation Hospital last August, Eric happened to meet the coach of the St. Louis Rugby Rams.

“I went to the first (wheelchair rugby) clinic in August, and I’ve been hooked since,” said Eric, who started practicing with the team less than a month later. The way he has tackled the sport of wheelchair rugby is similar to how he approached his days at SSM Rehabilitation Hospital.

“He was pretty determined from the beginning that he was going to do it himself,” said Nancy. “He didn’t want to use assistive devices, but wanted to learn how to do things without them. Laura McLaughlin (his occupational therapist) and Emily (the occupational therapy student who worked with him) were so diligent. They really pushed him. They went way above and beyond and motivated him,” said Nancy. “Dr. Villaflores (Eric’s doctor) was very inspirational.”

“Eric was always wanting to do more, do better,” said occupational therapist Laura McLaughlin. “He was always thinking ahead of the game plan, helping to come up with new ways to do things. He was always very motivated.”

“At first I didn’t think I was going to be able to do anything by myself,” recalled Eric. “You start out like an infant. You have to learn how to do everything all over again. You can’t envision your life.”

Now, in addition to playing wheelchair rugby, Eric is enrolled in his community’s junior college and talks about learning to drive and live on his own. He hopes to go away to school next year, and perhaps pursue a career working with spinal cord injury, maybe recreational therapy. And on his wish list for Christmas this past year was a hand wheelchair.

“I want to try wheelchair marathons,” said Eric.