Adam Taliaferro Foundation honors former Cherokee student

Courier-Post, April 14, 2013

Former Cherokee High School standout track and cross country runner Matthew McCarroll was honored today by the Adam Taliaferro Foundation, not for a recent athletic achievement, but for his courage in battling a life-altering event that is helping him serve as an inspiration to others.

In August 2012, McCarroll, who was on summer break from his studies at The University of Pittsburgh, suffered a C5 spinal cord injury following a dive into a swimming pool, an injury that results in paralysis and potential loss of function of the shoulders, biceps, wrists and hands. This injury has left McCarroll in a wheelchair.

In the immediate aftermath of the injury, McCarroll spent three weeks at Cooper University Medical Center and endured two surgeries in which screws were inserted to stabilize his neck. He also spent two stints in rehabilitation at Magee Rehabilitation in Philadelphia.

"I was pretty hazy after the initial injury and surgery, and it was a while before I realized what had happened," said McCarroll, who graduated from Cherokee in 2010 and had just finished his second year as a chemical engineering major at Pitt.

He credits his parents, Donna and Mike McCarroll, for helping him every step of the way with his surgery and rehabilitation, plus with dealing with his injury from an emotional aspect. He also is right up front when he discusses how he has dealt with his life-changing injury.

"My parents and everyone around me have been great in helping me, but I haven't quite accepted everything yet," McCarroll said. "I'm getting there, but honestly, it will take some time. I was always independent, but now this injury will be with me the rest of my life.

"Sometimes people look at others in wheelchairs and they think it's just their legs that have given out on them. But a spinal cord injury affects your entire body, so there's a lot to deal with."

McCarroll, 21, is determined to move on with his life and begin to regain is independence. He spoke to about 30 high school athletes from all over South Jersey during the Adam Taliaferro Foundation's Player of the Year Luncheon, hosted by the Philadelphia Eagles, at Lincoln Financial Field. McCarroll was in their shoes just three years ago as a standout distance runner at Cherokee, but today he will speak on behalf of patients who have suffered spinal cord injuries, many of whom are athletes.

Adam Taliaferro, for whom the foundation is named, was paralyzed while making a tackle for Penn State in a football game at Ohio State in 2000. After spinal-fusion surgery, doctors told Adam's parents their son would probably never walk again. Three months later, Taliaferro walked out of Magee Rehabilitation Hospital in Philadelphia and now embarks on a career with one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies.

Adam's gift back to those who helped him is The Adam Taliaferro Foundation, which provides emotional, financial and educational support to student-athletes who suffer catastrophic head or spinal injuries in sanctioned team events in New Jersey, Pennsylvania or Delaware.

"This is a great opportunity to make people aware of spinal cord injuries," McCarroll said. "I've always admired Adam Taliaferro and everything he has gone through to reach out and help others like me. This type of an injury can happen so easily and quickly, and coaches and athletes need to understand this."