Adrian Gordon, 20, was completely paralyzed in a horrific January 9 car crash on the Long Island Expressway. A passenger in the vehicle’s back seat, he was ejected from the car’s rear window and fractured his spine. Rushed to North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, NY, he underwent spinal surgery on his C-6 vertebrae by M. Chris Overby, MD, a spine surgeon at the North Shore-LIJ Health System’s Harvey Cushing Institutes of Neuroscience Spine Center.

When he awoke from surgery, Mr. Gordon was still only able to move his eyelids. Two weeks later, he thought he was dreaming when he felt sensation in his toes. Later, when he discovered he could move them he said, “I stayed awake all night wiggling my toes to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.”

Adrian Gordon has reason to smile. "After all the care and support I received I really want to give something back to show how much I appreciate all that was done for me," he said.

Transferred to the Southside Hospital rehabilitation unit in Bay Shore, NY on Leap Day, February 29, for intensive rehabilitation therapy, Adrian was unable to stand, feed himself or brush his teeth. Less than 3½ months after an accident almost left him paralyzed, he is able to walk out of the hospital with the aid of crutches — a feat Dr. Overby described it as a “mini-miracle.”

Winnie Mack, RN, executive director of Southside Hospital, said that miracle is due in large part to the work at North Shore University Hospital and Southside Hospital, members of the North Shore-LIJ Health System’s Harvey Cushing Institutes of Neuroscience, who collaborated on Adrian’s care.

Members of Southside Hospital's Neurorehabilitation team cheer Adrian Gordon's recovery.

“He’s an extraordinary young man who received extraordinary care,” Ms. Mack said. “His story is an inspiration and an example of the kind of resources the Harvey Cushing Institutes of Neuroscience can bring to complicated cases like Adrian’s.”

Craig Rosenberg, MD, a physiatrist at Southside Hospital, said that the intensive therapy Adrian received from Southside’s neuro-rehabilitation team- the physiatrists, nurses, physical and occupational therapists, along with the surgical skill of Dr. Overby and the determination of Adrian, all contributed to his speedy recovery.

“I remember when I first saw his chart,” Dr. Rosenberg said. “The likelihood that Adrian would walk again was not very good. But he had expert surgical care, intensive rehabilitation and worked hard during that time. And now, three weeks later, he’s going to be walking out of the hospital. It’s truly a tribute to the care he received and his own will and determination.”

M. Chris Overby, MD, (center), a spine surgeon at the North Shore-LIJ Health System's Harvey Cushing Institutes of Neuroscience Spine Center, performed the surgery on Adrian Gordon (right) and explains his injury. Winnie Mack, RN, executive director of Southside Hospital, where Adrian received the intensive rehabilitation therapy to help him walk again, is seated to Dr. Overby's left.

Adrian, a student at Manhattan Community College and a former track star at Mount Vernon High School in Westchester was majoring in accounting and finance prior to the accident but said as a result of this experience and the care and support he received, he is going to change his major to sports medicine.

“After all the care and support I received,” Adrian said, “I really want to help others and give something back to show how much I appreciate all that was done for me.”

Contact:
Brian Mulligan
516-465-2618