soonerfan28
8/5/2009, 07:37 PM
Didn't see this posted, but I didn't look very hard either.
http://www.soonersports.com/genrel/080309aaa.html
Corey Wilson Making the Journey
Oklahoma receiver's goal? To walk back out on Owen Field.
On Feb. 27, 2009, just two days before spring football practices were scheduled to begin, OU receiver Corey Wilson was involved in an automobile accident near Pauls Valley. Thrown from his SUV, he incurred serious injuries, the most severe of which resulted in paralysis over the lower half of his body.
Last week, Corey agreed to let four members of our communications, SoonerSports.com and SoonerVision staffs accompany him to physical therapy at the OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City.
To inquire about a fund set up to assist Corey Wilson, contact the Sooner Club at (405) 325-8000.
NORMAN, Okla. -- Few will forget the last time we all convened at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
Oklahoma rolled past Texas Tech on a night when the atmosphere, heightened by the Jump Around phenomenon, reached a level that many call the most electric they've ever experienced in Norman.
Yes, to many of us, that Nov. 22 night will always be special.
For Corey Wilson, the memory of that night exceeds yours and mine. That was the last time the OU receiver, just a redshirt-freshman at the time, ran onto Owen Field.
On Feb. 27, just two days before spring football practices were scheduled to begin, Wilson was involved in an automobile accident near Pauls Valley.
Thrown from his SUV, he incurred serious injuries, the most severe of which resulted in paralysis over the lower half of his body.
In the days following the accident, the Wilson family asked for privacy. Those wishes were granted, and for months, while Corey was returning to independent living much earlier than anyone expected, he went about his business away from the public eye.
Last week, Corey agreed to let four members of our communications, SoonerSports.com and SoonerVision staffs accompany him to physical therapy at the OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City.
To say that it was sobering would be an understatement. But it wasn't sobering out of sympathy for Corey. The sympathy is there, of course, but as Corey grimaces and fights with the same earnestness that he did during Jerry Schmidt's off-season workouts, one is sobered out of respect, immeasurable respect.
There, down a couple hallways at the OU Med Center, in a mostly stark room, Wilson is accompanied only by a pair of encouraging physical therapists. Held by a harness, he labors intensely on a $1 million Lokomat machine that hoists him over a treadmill and simulates walking.
It is impossible to calculate how such a vision recalibrates your sense of perspective. I am ashamed to admit that I have questioned the number of blue stalls in front of a store or stared too long at someone with a disability. Never again.
The road to recovery is not lined by thousands of adoring fans. It is often lonely and it is much harder, both physically and emotionally, than most of us could withstand.
Wilson makes the journey buoyed by his family, teammates, friends and the coaching staff, especially the head man.
After Corey was hospitalized in Oklahoma City, Bob Stoops delivered his breakfast … every morning. He saw to it that his Champions Foundation purchased a specially-equipped GMC Yukon so that his player could regain some of his mobility.
Asked about his relationship with his coach, Wilson said that Stoops has acted like a father.
Different than the coaching exterior we often see, huh?
"A lot different," he said.
Corey admits that there are times when he gets down in the dumps, wonders why this happened to him and frets about the days to come. He tells how something as simple as getting in his car and realizing he left his sunglasses on the kitchen counter is now more an ordeal than an inconvenience.
Then he calls himself, "fortunate" that the accident didn't take his life.
"You can't question God's plan for your life just because it's different than yours," he said.
It's under that banner that he moves on. He hasn't read the outpouring of cards and letters from well-wishers that he received while hospitalized. His mother, Wendy, has promised to show them to him when she feels he's ready. For now, their eyes are on the future.
Corey Wilson's life will never be the same. He knows that, although he is determined to restore it as completely as he can.
That's true of many others who fight similar battles. As we attempted to drill down on his case in particular, Corey was quick to remember the many who subject themselves to the grind of therapy while coping with a long list of challenges.
All of us tend to get wrapped up in our own, small worlds, usually to the extent that we fool ourselves into thinking that our shortcomings rate as actual problems. This harsh, real-life lesson has shown Corey the difference between genuine struggles and the fake stuff.
Among the many things he can now teach us, perhaps that one sits atop the list.
Ask Corey to list his reassessed goals and the first thing he says is, "to some day walk back onto Owen Field."
When that day occurs, I suggest that we make a pact to cheer for him so loudly that the Texas Tech game will have to be remembered as only the second-most electric atmosphere any of us can recall.
http://www.soonersports.com/genrel/080309aaa.html
Corey Wilson Making the Journey
Oklahoma receiver's goal? To walk back out on Owen Field.
On Feb. 27, 2009, just two days before spring football practices were scheduled to begin, OU receiver Corey Wilson was involved in an automobile accident near Pauls Valley. Thrown from his SUV, he incurred serious injuries, the most severe of which resulted in paralysis over the lower half of his body.
Last week, Corey agreed to let four members of our communications, SoonerSports.com and SoonerVision staffs accompany him to physical therapy at the OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City.
To inquire about a fund set up to assist Corey Wilson, contact the Sooner Club at (405) 325-8000.
NORMAN, Okla. -- Few will forget the last time we all convened at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
Oklahoma rolled past Texas Tech on a night when the atmosphere, heightened by the Jump Around phenomenon, reached a level that many call the most electric they've ever experienced in Norman.
Yes, to many of us, that Nov. 22 night will always be special.
For Corey Wilson, the memory of that night exceeds yours and mine. That was the last time the OU receiver, just a redshirt-freshman at the time, ran onto Owen Field.
On Feb. 27, just two days before spring football practices were scheduled to begin, Wilson was involved in an automobile accident near Pauls Valley.
Thrown from his SUV, he incurred serious injuries, the most severe of which resulted in paralysis over the lower half of his body.
In the days following the accident, the Wilson family asked for privacy. Those wishes were granted, and for months, while Corey was returning to independent living much earlier than anyone expected, he went about his business away from the public eye.
Last week, Corey agreed to let four members of our communications, SoonerSports.com and SoonerVision staffs accompany him to physical therapy at the OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City.
To say that it was sobering would be an understatement. But it wasn't sobering out of sympathy for Corey. The sympathy is there, of course, but as Corey grimaces and fights with the same earnestness that he did during Jerry Schmidt's off-season workouts, one is sobered out of respect, immeasurable respect.
There, down a couple hallways at the OU Med Center, in a mostly stark room, Wilson is accompanied only by a pair of encouraging physical therapists. Held by a harness, he labors intensely on a $1 million Lokomat machine that hoists him over a treadmill and simulates walking.
It is impossible to calculate how such a vision recalibrates your sense of perspective. I am ashamed to admit that I have questioned the number of blue stalls in front of a store or stared too long at someone with a disability. Never again.
The road to recovery is not lined by thousands of adoring fans. It is often lonely and it is much harder, both physically and emotionally, than most of us could withstand.
Wilson makes the journey buoyed by his family, teammates, friends and the coaching staff, especially the head man.
After Corey was hospitalized in Oklahoma City, Bob Stoops delivered his breakfast … every morning. He saw to it that his Champions Foundation purchased a specially-equipped GMC Yukon so that his player could regain some of his mobility.
Asked about his relationship with his coach, Wilson said that Stoops has acted like a father.
Different than the coaching exterior we often see, huh?
"A lot different," he said.
Corey admits that there are times when he gets down in the dumps, wonders why this happened to him and frets about the days to come. He tells how something as simple as getting in his car and realizing he left his sunglasses on the kitchen counter is now more an ordeal than an inconvenience.
Then he calls himself, "fortunate" that the accident didn't take his life.
"You can't question God's plan for your life just because it's different than yours," he said.
It's under that banner that he moves on. He hasn't read the outpouring of cards and letters from well-wishers that he received while hospitalized. His mother, Wendy, has promised to show them to him when she feels he's ready. For now, their eyes are on the future.
Corey Wilson's life will never be the same. He knows that, although he is determined to restore it as completely as he can.
That's true of many others who fight similar battles. As we attempted to drill down on his case in particular, Corey was quick to remember the many who subject themselves to the grind of therapy while coping with a long list of challenges.
All of us tend to get wrapped up in our own, small worlds, usually to the extent that we fool ourselves into thinking that our shortcomings rate as actual problems. This harsh, real-life lesson has shown Corey the difference between genuine struggles and the fake stuff.
Among the many things he can now teach us, perhaps that one sits atop the list.
Ask Corey to list his reassessed goals and the first thing he says is, "to some day walk back onto Owen Field."
When that day occurs, I suggest that we make a pact to cheer for him so loudly that the Texas Tech game will have to be remembered as only the second-most electric atmosphere any of us can recall.