United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Red Bank Catholic's Anderson an inspirational student athlete

The only thing keeping Red Bank Catholic
senior attackman Ryan Anderson from a
lacrosse field right now is mononucleosis
and he’s expecting clearance from his
doctor to resume playing soon.



About a year and eight months ago,
Anderson, then 16, wasn’t sure he would
play sports again, nevertheless his spring
sport of lacrosse, after suffering a
Traumatic Brachial Plexus injury during a
football scrimmage on Sept. 1, 2010 at
Manasquan High School.

“It was the second kickoff. I ran down the
field and this big hole opened up and the
running back was coming right through the
hole with the ball. I tackled him and my
legs were planted at the time and all the
energy went into my shoulders,” Ryan
Anderson said. “My right shoulder
compressed too far down and popped five
nerves out of my spinal cord and paralyzed
my right arm from the shoulder down. I
knew something was wrong immediately
because as soon as I hit the ground, it felt
like my shoulder had burst into flames.”

The injury

According to New York University’s Langone
Medical Center’s Department of
Neurosurgery’s website, Anderson’s injury
was defined as: “The brachial plexus
(brachial means arm and plexus mean
communication or meeting point) refers to
the nerves that exit the cervical spine and
pass down to the shoulder and arm. Five
major nerves comprise the brachial plexus: C
5, C6, C7, C8, and T1 (C refers to
cervical [or neck] and T refers to thorax [or
chest]). These nerve pass under the skin in
the neck and axilla, where they are
vulnerable to injury. When the neck and
arm are forced away from each other
during trauma (e.g., car accidents,
motorcycle accidents, falls) the brachial
plexus nerves can be stretched or torn
apart. If the force is severe, these nerves
can even be pulled away from the spinal
cord where they originate. Damage to
these nerves causes pain, numbness, and
weakness in the shoulder, arm, and hand.
The pain can be quite severe, and is often
described at burning, pins and needles, or
crushing. In general, the C5 nerve controls
the rotator cuff muscles and shoulder
function, C6 controls flexing the arm at the
elbow, C7 partially controls the triceps and
wrist flexion, and C8/T1 controls hand
movements.”

One of Ryan’s friends, senior Doug
Whitlock, who plays football and lacrosse at
Red Bank Catholic, was right next to him
during that kickoff play.

“It was a good four seconds after the ball
was kicked and Ryan ran into the kid at full
speed. Ryan flew backward and the kid
also flew backward,” Whitlock said. “After it
happened, all I could hear was Ryan
screaming that he couldn’t feel his arm and
he couldn’t feel the right side of his body.”

Whitlock said the training staff rushed over
to attend to Ryan after the injury and later
Ryan was transported to the hospital by an
ambulance.

Ryan’s parents Suzanne and Kenneth Sr.
were not at the scrimmage when Ryan got
hurt but thanks to technology found out
very quickly.

“I had got a call from the football staff but I
was on my way out of my office and the call
went to voicemail,” Suzanne Anderson said.
“One of the players on the football team,
texted my middle son Patrick, who then
called my husband Kenneth Sr. and that’s
how we found out about Ryan’s injury.”

Suzanne said that Wednesday afternoon on
Sept. 1 2010, one of the assistant football
coaches met the family at the hospital.
Later at the hospital the emergency room
doctor’s liaison said there were no
fractures but they were running more tests.

“We were eventually told that he had a
Traumatic Brachial Plexus injury,” Suzanne
Anderson said. “There was no talk at that
moment about playing sports again.”

The diagnosis

The Andersons did their research about
traumatic brachial plexus injuries and were
set to have surgery in December 2010 at
the Hospital for Special Surgery in New
York City, which was recommend by a local
orthopedic doctor. The surgery was
described as a 14-hour procedure and the
success of it wouldn’t be known for
months, if not years.

Then another option came into the picture
as the Andersons found out about the Mayo
Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and a visit to
the Mayo Clinic was scheduled just before
Christmas 2010.

“Originally, we were going to have the
surgery done at the Hospital for Special
Surgery in New York City but then we found
out about the Mayo Clinic,” Ryan Anderson
said. “It turned out that my dad’s buddy
knew a guy who had the same injury as me
and he said to go to the Mayo Clinic to have
the surgery. That was probably the best
choice I made.”


Ryan eventually had two major surgeries
first in February 2011 and then again in
April 2011 that cost about $150,000
according to Suzanne Anderson. The
surgery Ryan had is called a “Double
Gracilis Free Muscle Transfer” and Mayo
Clinic’s website described it as a two-
staged procedure: “In stage I, the first
gracilis transfer, powered by the spinal
accessory nerve, restores elbow flexion
and finger extension. In stage II, a second
gracilis transfer, powered by intercostal
motor nerves, expands function to include
finger and thumb flexion (grasp).”

“The Mayo Clinic told us before the
surgeries that it would be 18 months
before Ryan gets elbow flexion back and
three years before he gets finger flexion
back,” Suzanne Anderson said. “He’s
definitely ahead of the curve.”

The recovery

The decision to have the surgeries at the
Mayo Clinic was all up to Ryan Anderson.

“After my surgeries it took about six weeks
before I could actually pick up a lacrosse
stick again,” Ryan Anderson said. “Then
once I got my doctors out in Minnesota to
clear me, I was out playing lacrosse again.”

The Mayo Clinic doctors that Ryan is
referring to are the three-person “dream
team” as his mother calls them of
Alexander Y. Shin, M.D, Allen T. Bishop, M.
D. and Robert J. Spinner, M.D. In addition
to the trio, his mother also credits his local
doctor, Dr. Harry A. Bade of Professional
Orthopaedic Associates for their combining
efforts that gave her son a chance to play
sports again.

“I’m naturally left-handed so I can still write
and draw. I can still do almost everything I u
se to do before the injury,” Ryan
Anderson said. “It takes a little adapting to
one hand and I figure things out as I go
along.”

Ryan, the youngest of Suzanne and
Kenneth Sr’s three sons which also include
Kenneth Jr., 22, and Patrick, 20, got
clearance to resume playing lacrosse about
two weeks before the spring season
started, according to Red Bank Catholic
boys lacrosse coach Ryan Eichner.

“Ryan played junior varsity lacrosse as a
freshman and he was a junior varsity and v
arsity lacrosse player his sophomore
year,” Eichner said. “He was definitely a
potential starter for us for his junior year
before his injury.”

Ryan is a tri-captain, which was voted on
by his teammates, this season for the
Caseys. Eichner describes him as the fourth
attackman on the team, basically he’s the
first attackman off the bench. He played in
the team’s first four games and he has
scored one goal this season before his
getting Mononucleosis.

Ryan is scheduled to see his doctor this
week about his Mononucleosis and hopes
he’ll get clearance to resume playing
lacrosse in time for Red Bank Catholic’s
postseason run. His lacrosse teammates,
his coaching staff and his family are glad to
see him playing lacrosse again because
about 20 months ago he suffered an injury
that changed his life.

“My husband and I pray every day that
Ryan didn’t break his neck and we didn’t
have to bury him,” Suzanne Anderson said.
“He realizes how lucky he was that day.”