Lyons’ Will Unflagging in Face of Adversity : Chatsworth Player Hopes to Recover From Paralysis

For Chatsworth High defensive back DeWayne Lyons, it seemed like a routine play, one he had made many times before.

“I saw the receiver cutting over the middle so I just went towards him,” Lyons said. “I angled in on him and hit him, and that’s when it happened.”

Lyons, who turns 17 today, suffered a broken fifth cervical vertebra when he tackled a Fairfax receiver in the second quarter of a City Section 3-A Division playoff game two weeks ago.

He has been paralyzed from the waist down ever since.

“I knew something was wrong right when I hit him,” Lyons said. “My legs felt weak and then it felt like my knees were up in my chest.”

Lyons was momentarily unconscious, then he awoke with no feeling in his legs.

Dr. Asher Taban, 44, a neurosurgeon at Northridge Hospital Medical Center where Lyons was taken after suffering the injury, said that the Chatsworth senior’s fifth vertebra broke under the impact of the tackle.

“It just shattered,” he said.

Though Lyons, an All-Sunset League defensive back, has some feeling in the back of his left thigh, Taban said his chances for a full recovery are very slim.

“I can’t say for sure that he won’t recover,” Taban said. “But usually if a patient recovers from this type of injury, there’s movement in the first 24-72 hours.

“The longer the patient is immobile, the less the chances for recovery.”

Despite Taban’s prognosis, Lyons and his family have remained calm and confident, which doesn’t surprise teammate Bryan Addison, who visited Lyons the day after the injury.

“He said, ‘Hey, I’m all right. Don’t worry about me, I’ll get over this,’ ” Addison said. “He’s just a very positive person and a real nice guy. He’s very friendly and outgoing. He’s always done everything 110%.”

Lyons believes he will recover.

“I know things don’t look good right now, but I’m not going to give up,” he said. “I can’t quit. I think I can come back.”

The Chatsworth team and coaching staff did not immediately realize the severity of his injury.

“We just thought he got his bell rung real good,” quarterback Ty Powell said.

“We just thought he got the wind knocked out of him,” said Matt Furubotten, a Chancellor lineman. “We kept saying, ‘Come on, DeWayne, get up.’ But he didn’t, and then we knew it was serious.”

Chatsworth Coach Myron Gibford, who described the 5-8, 152-pound Lyons as a “pipsqueak, but a tough kid with a big heart,” was shocked. It was the worst injury any of his players had suffered since he began coaching in 1961.

“I can’t describe it,” Gibford said. “It’s pretty sad. It’s one of those things you hope never happens. It shakes you up pretty good. I don’t know if I’ve come to grips with it.

“It shook up the kids, and the staff and it sure shakes me up.”

Addison said the injury stunned the team.

“They’re really upset about it,” he said. “They want to help but they can’t. Everyone feels very helpless about the whole thing.”

Lyons has feeling in his hands, but he lacks control of his motor reflexes and cannot manipulate objects.

“He’ll probably regain some control of his hands,” Taban said. “But it’s doubtful if he’ll ever have 100% control of them.”

Paula Covington, Lyons’ aunt, steadfastly believes in her nephew’s ability to recover.

“I know in my heart that DeWayne is going to be OK,” said Covington, who has established a trust fund to help raise money for his rehabilitation. “He’s a very strong, determined young man and he’s going to beat this thing. He’s going to walk again.

“We prayed and now we’re just leaving it up to God. I know it’s going to take a long period of rehabilitation, but DeWayne will walk again.”

Sheila Thomas, his mother, has convinced her son to concentrate on recovery, not dwell on the injury.

“I told DeWayne not to worry about how it happened,” Thomas said. “I told him that it happened and he couldn’t redo it or relive it. You’ve just got to go on from here. Just pray and believe that the Lord is going to fix it.”

Lyons, the second oldest of four children, echoed his mother’s sentiments.

“I’m confident of recovering,” he said. “I don’t know how it happened, but it did and I’ve got to deal with it.”