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Walking Miracle
story of: MARK CASO
In 1980, 18 year old Mark Caso was training to win a spot on the United States gymnastics team for the Moscow Summer Olympics. He was already a member of UCLA's gymnastics team, fighting for poistion among the other great competitors. Pressure to perform was intense.
While his teammates and coach watched closely, Mark attempted a daring move. But---in midair---something went terribly wrong. He came crashing down on the mat, headfirst. Although Mark was conscious, he couldn't move.
When paramedics arrived, they applied a cervical brace and wrapped Mark in blankets. At the hospital, hew was put in traction to stabilize his spine. A weighted halo device was attached to his head.
"my worst fears were soon confirmed," said mark. "I had broken my neck." As for his promising gymnastics career, the team physican, Dr. Finerman, admitted that he didn't know wheather Mark would ever regain any movement.
Several weeks later, doctors preformed an eight-hour operaton on Mark. Using a splint of bone from his hip, they fused his fifth and sixth vertebrae, hoping to permanetly stabilize the spinal column so that some movement might eventually return. Gradually, Mark began feeling sensation in his limbs again.
Still, rehab was grueling. "Here I was, a trained athlete, and i was getting excited about raising my arms above my head for a few seconds." Mark would stay in the hospital for four long months before he was able to go home. When he left the hospital, he was still wearing the heavy metal halo around his head. Something as simple as walking was still incredibly hard to do.
but Mark was determined to return to gymnastics. Althought he didn't expect to return to championship form, Mark thought he could complete a basic routine again. " My mother wasn't happy with the idea, so she prayed extra hard for me he says.
Finally, Mark went back to training in the gym. He started with handstands and jumping on the trampoline. And every morning he hobbled around the track, building up his staminia. As he ggradually regained feeling and movement, he had an incredible sence that got had given him a second chance, not just at gymnastics, but at life.
Whe he finally lapped a little old lady who power-walked around the same track each morning, Mark felt as if he had won Olympic gold! "She must have thought I was crazy, this guy with a cage on his head. She had no way of knowing she was the toughest competition I had ever faced,"he says.
That wasn't Mark's last victory. In 1982, he returned to collegiate gymnastics. He was part of the 1984 UCLA national champ. team, and he won three medals at the Pan-american games that year.
Today, Mark is an actor. He has even had the chance to combine acting with gymnastics in the role of "Leonardo" in the movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II . Since then he's been stunt-coordanating many projects, including commercials and music videos.
"Lying in my hospital bed years ago, my body numb and paralyzed, I couldn't have imagined the things i'd be doing today," Mark said. "But God could. And thanks to him, I'm on my feet again"
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