Gulfstream Jockey Back On His Feet After Devastating Injury
HOLLYWOOD (CBS4) - Eibar Coa is a walking miracle. Actually he shouldn't be walking at all right now.
The well known horse jockey was all but crippled, two months ago, after a horrible fall at Gulfstream Park racetrack. Ebar's horse went down after crossing the wire, sending him head first to the ground.
"It was a severe spinal cord injury, we actually determined it was a complete spinal cord injury," said Eibar's neurosurgeon Dr. Scott Bertas. "He was a complete quadriplegic. He could not move anything."
But Eibar wouldn't take his injury lying down. After two surgeries, he went right into rehab where he worked for hours each day re-learning basic human functions.
"We had to re-teach him how to sit, use his arms and get the strength to incorporate into activities like feeding himself and getting dressed," said Ebar's rehab doctor Dr. Alan Novick.
Barely two months after the accident, Ebar is checking out of Memorial Regional South and ready to get on with his life.
"Today I'm walking," Ebar says, "Tomorrow, for sure I'm going to be running and hopefully next month I'll be riding."
