Angle Vale footy player Craig Wilson defies the odds by walking hours after bad fall on the field
IT might have taken him an hour to walk the 50m out of hospital, but amateur footballer Craig Wilson, who was left without feeling in his arms and legs after a fall during a game, feared he would never walk again at all.
AN amateur football player who was left without feeling to his arms and legs after a rough fall has defied the odds by walking out of hospital on Sunday morning.
Craig Wilson, 22, told The Advertiser that despite it taking an hour for him to walk the 50m out of the hospital, he was grateful for being able to move at all.
It was a shocking case of deja vu for Mr Wilson when he was badly injured while playing for the Angle Vale B-grade side at Two Wells on Saturday.
Only four years earlier he had been left in a wheelchair after copping a stray elbow during a football game.
He clawed his way back to game fitness though rehabilitation and determination over a number of years but once again faced the prospect of paralysis as he lay on the pitch.
“It was pretty scary waking up and not being able to move or walk around,” Mr Wilson said.
“The first thing that came into my head was what had happened before and whether it was going to be like last time or if it was going to be worse.”
Mr Wilson says he does not remember much about the tackle that knocked him out cold.
“I went to tackle someone and then I woke up on the ground,” Mr Wilson said.
“I don’t remember it but mates told me I got the guy holding the ball and then I landed badly and then he fell on top of me.
“Then I woke up on the ground. I had no feeling to my legs or arms, I started shaking.”
Mr Wilson’s brother was one of the first at his side along with his mother Kathryn and his pregnant partner Jaymee-Lee.
“It helped a bit having them there but I wasn’t really in the thinking state of mind,” Mr Wilson said.
After being flown to the Royal Adelaide Hospital for treatment and scans, Mr Wilson found feeling slowly creeping back to his extremities.
He was discharged in the early hours of Sunday morning.
“I walked out but it took me about an hour to walk out down a 50m long corridor,” Mr Wilson said.
“I came home and went to bed and have been on the couch all day. At the moment it’s looking good and I’m defying the odds.
“In a few weeks I go back for another couple of scans when the swelling goes down.”
After the traumatic incident Mr Wilson has sworn off football, thinking of his young daughter Amaliah and the imminent arrival of a baby son.
“No more footy, not again, I’ve had my time on the field, now its time to be off the field with my family,” Mr Wilson said.
