CRAWFORD | Weeks after frightening football injury, Virginia's Perris Jones heads home an inspiration

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Virginia graduate running back Perris Jones was sweeping right after catching a pass in the backfield late in the third quarter against Louisville on Nov. 9, and ran straight into a collision. Instantly, he said, he went numb. He couldn’t feel himself hit the field.

He knew something wasn’t right. Trainers from the University of Louisville staff were at his side before the play was even over. They knew something wasn’t right. For the next 10 minutes, he would lie motionless on the field, his teammates and competitors on their knees praying, before he was carted off the field and to the emergency room at the University of Louisville Medical Center downtown.

On Tuesday, nearly three weeks after that frightening moment, Jones walked out of the Frazier Rehab Institute to the cheers of healthcare workers and the hugs of his care team.

His father, Stevie, a military veteran who takes his family out every Christmas morning to serve meals to the homeless, watched his son walk out under his own power, and praised the medical personnel who assisted him, from the moment he fell to the turf.

“I'm eternally grateful that he was wheeled into this place. And we will walk out,” Jones said. “. . . I wish English had more powerful words. Because thank you seems inadequate. But from a father’s standpoint, I cannot tell you how I feel. I cannot tell you. Louisville is a second home.”

What happened from the time Jones was wheeled into the ER to the time he left is a testament to his determination, and to the skill of the doctors, nurses, rehab specialists and therapists who have worked with him the past several weeks. He spent Thanksgiving in Louisville. He got thousands of cards and letters. His teammates called to make him laugh. His father never left.

On the field, Jones said he was thinking, “What in the world is happening? You know, and then the U of L trainers . . .  were there right away. First thing I echoed was that I couldn't feel anything. I couldn't move. I'm a very faithful guy. So I just said a quick prayer to myself, you know, to tell the Lord that I was listening, because I do believe everything happens for a reason. And that kind of gave me a little calming presence.”

Jones began to get some sensation back in his extremities shortly after arriving at the hospital. His case, it would turn out, had positive signs from the start. Still, there was trauma.

“I shared some tears with my father, you know, right, when he walked into the, into the emergency room, and I was done with surgery and everything,” Jones said. “And I just told him I was sorry. because, you know, after you've spent your whole life working towards something, and then it's seemingly gone in a moment's notice, it was rough to admit, but, you know, I'm thankful for his guidance, to let me know that it's not the end of something, but rather the beginning. So that's what I'm looking forward to.”

The spinal surgery he underwent, according to U of L Health chief medical officer Dr. Jason Smith, was an anterior fusion and decompression.

“One of the things you have with a bruise to the spinal cord is you tend to have swelling and fluid that gets into the spinal cord and causes pressure,” Smith said. “That’s what leads to a lot of the secondary injuries and the mobility after that typically causes a worsening of that injury because you’ve got basically a swelling tube inside a very confined space. So one of the things they were able to do was stabilize that. So there’s not a lot of movement. And they also decompress that at the time to let that swelling go down and allow for the rehab process after that.”

From U of L Health, Jones was moved to Frazier Rehab, where he made quick progress.

Dr. Camilo Castillo, the program director of spinal cord injury at Frazier, said that Jones “had already had a lot of progress” by the time he got to the rehab institute. “His upper extremities were weaker than his legs, and his right side was weaker, more compromised than his left side. However, this is a young guy who does not stop, who is a resilient, dedicated athlete that we actually had to stop him because he kept going and going and going.“

Smiling as he addressed a group of reporters with few visual effects from his experience, Jones said he felt gratitude, while making sure to encourage others rehabilitating from various issues to keep running their own race.

“I want to say thank you to the U of L Health system, the U of L athletics department, Frazier and its excellent doctors, nurses, aides and therapists,” Jones said. “And, you know, my family and I couldn't be more grateful for the treatment that we've received here. To take it a step further what Dr. Castillo mentioned earlier about family, you know, that's something I want to echo. Since being here, and since everything happened, with the traumatic injury that took place on the ninth, it's not something that you plan for, right? It's not something that you ever expect to happen. It's not something you want to happen But it did. I'm a firm believer in Jesus Christ, that's something that I stand on in my life. So, I firmly believe everything happens for a reason. My dad and I talked about it all the time, it's no coincidence that the injury took place in this specific place, the best neurosurgeons and spinal cord injury surgeons and the best rehab facilities that the world has to offer, in my opinion. I couldn't ask for a better place to be for this injury to take place. So, I'm truly grateful for that. And you guys have made me and my family feel like family. I don't consider you guys doctors, you guys are all aunts and uncles, whether you like it or not. And you guys are a part of my family forever.”

Jones says he does not expect ever to play football again. But he said from the day he enrolled at the University of Virginia, he has been preparing for a life beyond football. He earned undergraduate degrees in African American Studies and English, and is working toward a Master’s in Social Foundations. He said he’s hoping to work to do something that benefits underprivileged communities.

He said he was spurred on by the words of his father, “if you can open your eyes, you’re going to be all right.”

Stevie Jones said his son grew up watching him come home from combat tours with injuries “pretty banged up” and having “to learn how to walk again.”

“To see us reverse or trade places broke my heart, to be honest with you,” he said. “And I won’t talk about it too much because it moves me to tears. I wish I could have given him my spine. I don’t know if it’s any better. But I would have loved if we could magically have traded places and I could have done this for him. But it has encouraged me in so many other ways. To hear him talk and be able to respond to you all from his own person with his own ideas and thoughts, I’m like, ‘Wow. That is my kid.’ I still see the little kid, you know, but I'm just as much as you all are at a loss for words. I love this guy so much. So proud of him. And I really think he has a change-the-world in him somewhere. So, I encourage you all to keep watch for him. I think he's going to do some amazing things.”

Asked if he was surprised at his son’s rapid rehabilitation, Jones said, “Not surprised at all. We don't take days off. This might sound terrible, but I used to tell him we don't turn anything down but our collar in this family.”

Perris Jones said he knows he’s fortunate that his rehab made rapid progress. It didn’t feel rapid when he was told he could be in the facility for weeks. It’s not like football, he said. Hard work doesn’t guarantee progress. Patience is required as systems come back on board.

Even now, he’ll have to continue to work on his fine motor skills to regain full function in his hands and some other places.

But he said the experience has not changed his basic outlook on life.

“I don't think anything changes, honestly,” he said. “You know, me and my dad are quite alike. He always tells me, ‘I'm the same guy every day. The same guy every day.’ So nothing really changes. The mission is still the mission. Even when I was younger, my goal was never football. It was to use football, but it was never football. I still have a lot that I'm trying to accomplish outside of football, and that's what I'm focused on. So, nothing really changes, sir.”

By the time Perris Jones had finished talking about how he’d been lucky to have been in Louisville for this experience, and had walked out to the hugs and cheers of so many who worked with him during his recover, my thought turned the other direction.

For a little while, Louisville was lucky to have him.

Copyright 2023 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.