Wehby makes off-field comeback
In a split second, an able-bodied student athlete was transformed into a quadriplegic who, doctors said, would not only never play football again, but never walk or regain the use of the muscles that once powered him on the field.
That split second belongs to University of Indianapolis senior sports marketing major Nick Wehby, former defensive back for the Greyhounds.
Earlier this summer, Wehby was seriously injured in a swimming pool incident when he mistakenly dove into the shallow end of a family friend’s pool—with just three feet of water—during a graduation party. After glancing to his left and seeing children in the water, Wehby assumed the right side of the pool was the deep end and safe for diving.
He was wrong.
Wehby had to use a wheelchair at times, but he amazed the doctors by regaining his ability to stand within his first 48 hours in the hospital. Wehby said that he received incredible support from the UIndy campus community, especially from the athletics department.
“ … I felt my body go limp, and I was paralyzed instantly, so I was face down, so I kind of floated with my back towards the sky,” Wehby said. “I floated up through the water, and for a split second, the thought came to my mind that I was going to die, that I was going to drown.”
Wehby, who was conscious in the moments following the incident, said he knew right away that he was paralyzed, his spinal cord damaged. According to Wehby, the dive had dislocated the C3 and C4 vertebrae in his neck and pinched his spinal cord.
But 48 hours after his split second, he was standing up on two feet in a hospital. He was on his way to a recovery that many, including Wehby himself, have labeled a miracle.
Wehby said that he was paralyzed when he arrived at the hospital, but doctors immediately ordered spinal surgery after seeing a twinge of movement in his left leg. Even after the surgery was successful, Wehby said the doctors still insisted he would never walk again or regain the use of his hands.
According to Wehby, a couple of hours later, he managed to squeeze the hand of his girlfriend, recent Ulndy alumna Lauren Soza, who then ran into the waiting room to announce the news to dozens of Wehby’s supporters.
Still, Wehby said, doctors were cautious, saying that the hand squeeze could have been the result of a muscle twitch. However, Wehby gradually regained feeling on the left side of his body and was awaiting sensation on the right side of his body until he moved and felt his right leg move for the first time during a prayer with a visiting priest.
Now, nearly two months later, Wehby has made a full recovery—he is already in the gym lifting weights again. Wehby said that although he will not be able to play football, a less-than-full recovery was simply not an option.
“As soon as I could feel feeling in my body, there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to make a full recovery. I wasn’t going to stop until I made a full recovery,” he said.
Wehby said that he treated the severe injury like any athletic injury he has ever encountered during his career as a student athlete.
“That’s the only thing I know how to do—just to deal with adversity, come back, and come back stronger.”
Wehby credited the support he received from the UIndy community as a factor in his quick and full recovery. In the days following the incident, friends and fellow UIndy athletes visited Wehby, created and sold wristbands to support him, organized a prayer vigil, assembled and signed a get-well poster and spread encouragement via the Twitter hashtag #WehbyStrong.
“I can’t really put into words how much the UIndy community—more importantly, the UIndy athletic community—has done for me in this recovery process,” Wehby said.
Among Wehby’s supporters was Head Football Coach Bob Bartolomeo, who said that Wehby had the “whole Greyhound community behind him” during his recovery.
“When you have 115 players, they’re like sons to you, and so when you get a call on a Sunday morning like that, like I did, saying what happened … you just feel sick to your stomach. So you jump in your car and drive to Cincinnati [Wehby’s home and the location of the incident], and you try to help any way you can,” Bartolomeo said. “All you can do is give support and prayer, and that’s what I did.”
Bartolomeo said that he is relieved that Wehby has made a full recovery and is looking forward to Wehby getting involved with the team again.
“We’ll miss him,” Bartolomeo said, “but it’s a different ‘miss’ than it could have been.”
