Paralyzed on the gridiron, he has eyes on bigger victory

It’s Nov. 8, 2002. The night is humid at Houma’s Tom B. Smith Stadium.

Thibodaux High School’s reserve wide receiver Myron Wright is lined up for a two-point conversion against the H.L. Bourgeois High Braves. The ball is snapped, fumbled and both teams race to cover it. As Wright wrangles for the ball, he’s hit in the back, loses his balance and falls to the ground.

It would be the last time he’d ever walk.

“That day made me an entirely different person,” Wright said. “When it first happened, I couldn’t move and I started freaking out because I couldn’t move or feel anything. At the time you think, ‘This can’t happen to me. I’m too young.'”

Confined to his black motorized wheelchair, Wright says he has learned to be grateful for what he has been given. Today, the Thibodaux 22-year-old needs help doing common things like eating, getting dressed and taking a bath.

Wright says he never realized how fortunate he was until he had to rely on family and friends.

“It’s hard to adjust to having to rely on someone else to help you get dressed and feed you,” he said. “It’s another life. I’m thankful to have people help me put my clothes on, and to give my family a break. I can still enjoy life, but I can’t go out and do the things I used to do with friends in the past.”

After the accident, doctors told Wright he might never walk again. He refuses to accept that prognosis.

“The doctors didn’t believe me when I told them I could feel sensations that I couldn’t before,” Wright said. “I know I can walk again. I can do this.”

Physical limitations haven’t slowed Wright. A business major at Nicholls State University, he’s also a fixture on the sidelines at Thibodaux games.

And earlier this year, on March 24, Wright took his first step toward recovery.

It began at his cousin’s wedding when a woman asked Wright if he’d heard of Project Walk.

A spinal cord rehabilitation clinic in California, Project Walk helps those with spinal cord injuries walk again.

“She told me about this kid from Morgan City who had just attended,” Wright said. “When I saw they specialize in spinal cord injuries, I said this is where I have to be. I just knew that God helped me find this place for a reason.”

The Morgan City teen who’d visited Project Walk was Wesley Bandemer. Bandemer’s spinal cord was injured in a motorcross accident in 2006.

He was at Project Walk for 10 weeks beginning last summer. Walking again, he learned, wouldn’t be easy, but it could be possible.

“I regained a range of motion in my back and shoulders, and I regained the strength in my shoulders,” Bandemer told Wright. “Most importantly, I gained knowledge. When a person is paralyzed, their muscles don’t react as they used to. They must constantly work to keep the muscles loose and alert.”

In August of 2007, Wright made the decision to attend Project Walk after talking it over with his family. But there was one roadblock: Money. Attending Project Walk costs $1,800 a week, $43,000 for six months or $86,000 for a year.

With the same determination that led him to scramble for that loose football, Wright set a goal of raising $50,000. That would buy him six months at Project Walk and still give him the extra money to pay for housing.

It was a lofty figure … one his family initially questioned.

“They all looked at me like I was crazy,” Wright said “I just knew deep down in my heart I could do it.”

Over the coming months, there were dinners, a dance and even a Myron Wright Walk-to-Walk. Several organizations, including the Thibodaux High BETA club and the Kappa Sigma Fraternity at Nicholls State, sponsored various fundraisers. Kappa Sigma sponsored a Car Wash, chicken dinner and even a three-on-three basketball tournament to help the cause.

For that, Wright is grateful.

“Everyone worked so hard for me,” he said. “It means a lot. To know so many people cared, it was touching.”

By January 2008, Wright had raised $41,000, still $9,000 shy of his goal.

“That’s when (Thibodaux Mayor Charles Caillouet) called me,” Wright said. “He wanted to set up a meeting with me and my family to talk about more fundraisers. By the time we had met with him, I had $41,000 in the bank. He was shocked that we had raised so much money that fast. It just shows how many people care. It means a lot to me.”

Anxious to leave, Wright found his trip delayed so he could serve in his brother’s wedding.

On March 24, he boarded a train with family and set out on the 46-hour trek to California.

After nearly eight months of waking up at dawn, performing painful exercises and enduring the uncertainty of whether or not his work would actually pay off, Wright returned home two weeks ago to a warm welcome.

“Cali is a much fancier place,” he said. “The people are nice, but I miss the food and being with the people who love me.”

Wright said that after his time at Project Walk, he has more strength in his legs and his upper body than he ever had. And even though he is unable to walk, he knows anything is possible.

To ensure that he has a better chance of one day walking again, Wright continues the grueling workouts at home.

“I learned (at Project Walk) that anything is possible,” he explained. “We have to pray first, then work hard. I’m close. I’m not quite there yet, but I’m close.”

Now that he’s back in Thibodaux, Wright is looking to finish up his final semester at Nicholls and launch more fundraisers so he can return to Project Walk in December of 2009.

He’s also created the Myron Wright Foundation to help injured athletes. Helping others is a measure of success, Wright said.

Wright envisions the day that he’ll take his first step. If that happens, he won’t stay on his feet for long.

“I’m going to get on my knees and just thank God,” Wright says, smiling. “After five years, it made me look at life in a whole new aspect because I couldn’t do it by myself anymore.”

“People ask me if I’m mad at what happened to me, and I say ‘No’ because I got hurt doing something I love. How I can I get mad at that? Things like that happen.”

Thibodaux native Myron Wright endured six months of physical therapy at Project Walk in Carlsbad, California. The 22-year-old has noticed an increased strength in his arms and legs and continues treatments at home. He is confident that he will one day walk again. * File photo