CPD
Injured Ignatius player scores therapy touchdowns
Tuesday, June 06, 2006Joe Guillen
Plain Dealer Reporter
Sometimes Mark Tupa wakes up in bed and feels as if he's paralyzed again.
It's that same feeling he had on the football field almost three years ago. As a defensive back on St. Ignatius' freshman team, Mark smashed helmets with an opponent, crushing a vertebra and bruising his spinal cord.
"I just remember the initial impact, then I remember going down," said Mark, now 17. "I remember not being able to feel anything, just laying on the ground."
The collision left Mark paralyzed from the neck down. Doctors were unsure he would walk again.
"We were all scared; it was a nightmare," Mark Tupa Sr. said.
Shortly after the injury and subsequent surgery in September 2003, Mark slowly regained feeling in his limbs. But he spent months in a wheelchair, dependent on others to roll him around and complete basic tasks. He contemplated being "stuck in a wheelchair all my life."
Despite the grim outlook, Mark committed himself to the rehabilitation program at the MetroHealth Rehabilitation Institute of Ohio. Six months after the injury, he was walking. Last July, he got a driver's license.
Mark said music - he likes rap artists 2Pac and Common - and the competitive spirit he developed playing football and basketball helped him focus on getting better.
He never blamed the sport of football or the Shaker Heights player he collided with.
"I still love football. I'd still go out and play again," he said. "My kids are going to play football."
Mark's positive attitude was a defining factor in his recovery, said Dr. Gary Clark, director of the MetroHealth Rehabilitation Institute.
"He's done far better than almost anybody I've ever seen," Clark said.
Recovery from spinal cord injuries can be a mix of physical therapy and Mother Nature, Clark said. Throughout therapy, Mark surpassed many goals that doctors set for him, and he continues to show progress, he said.
On Monday, Mark, who lives in University Heights, spent the afternoon participating in a charity golf event at Lakewood Country Club with his mother, father and two brothers. Mark didn't play a full round, but he putted on a couple of holes. "I'm no Tiger Woods," he said.
The left side of Mark's body isn't fully functional. He walks with a slight limp and wears a brace around his left ankle and up his calf. He usually walks with a cane and still undergoes regular physical therapy.
Mark is on track to graduate with his class, having just completed his junior year at St. Ignatius. He plans to go to college - University of Notre Dame and Ohio State University are among the schools under consideration - to study either business or medicine.
But for now, he's concentrating on getting rid of the cane.
"My main goal is if someone was looking at me walking - they just saw me on the street - they'd think I was a normal person," Mark said. "They wouldn't be able to tell anything happened to me."
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