CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — The crazy thing, Reed Remington will tell you, is there was very little blood and no pain. "It never hurt, not when it happened, not while I was recovering and not now," said Remington, Walsh Jesuit's 6-4, 245-pound senior defensive end. "And, there was no blood. The worst part was just sitting around while it...
Walsh Jesuit's Reed Remington hasn't missed a down this season even though he nearly lost his finger in a weight room accident in the spring.
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(Chuck Crow / PD)
CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — The crazy thing, Reed Remington will tell you, is there was very little blood and no pain.
"It never hurt, not when it happened, not while I was recovering and not now," said Remington, Walsh Jesuit's 6-4, 245-pound senior defensive end. "And, there was no blood. The worst part was just sitting around while it healed."
That's hard to imagine, given the events of March 12 in the Walsh Jesuit weight room when Remington lost control of a barbell and nearly lost the index finger on his right hand.
"The doctors told us it was very serious," said Walsh Jesuit coach Gerry Rardin, who accompanied Remington to the emergency room at Akron Children's Hospital.
Amazingly, Remington -- who is being recruited by Division I schools including North Carolina, Purdue, Northwestern, Bucknell and Fordham, as well as most of the Mid-American Conference -- has not missed a down. This despite undergoing surgery to repair a finger that was practically ripped off his hand just seven months ago. He has healed and will be on the field tonight when the 12th-ranked Warriors (4-2) travel to rival and No. 7 St. Vincent-St. Mary (5-1) in a game critical to both teams' playoff hopes.
Remington recalls every moment of the accident. He was on the last exercise of his workout just before spring break, the third of eight repetitions of shoulder presses with 165 pounds on the bar. He had the bar in the air, his arms extended behind his head.
"I was struggling to lock it out," he recalled. "I arched my back to lock it out and when I locked it out, I kind of lost control over my head. I kind of threw the bar in front of me. The bar hit my head and I fell down. I was able to get my left hand out of the way but my right hand got left behind."
His right hand got caught between the weight and the frame holding the apparatus. All 165 pounds crashed down on his index finger, ripping it from its place and pushing it horizontally across the hand's knuckles until it nearly touched his little finger. A dent remains in the frame where it was struck by the weight.
From that point things moved in a blur. Assistant coach Steve Grescovich grabbed a towel and wrapped the injured hand. Trainer Mark Herbele and other coaches rushed in from an outer office. A 9-1-1 call was placed. An ambulance arrived and Remington was off to Akron Children's Hospital.
His parents, Rob and Dianne, were in an eastern Cleveland suburb buying cabinets for a recreation room remodeling project when Rob's cell phone rang.
"When that call comes in and someone says your child has suffered a serious injury, your first thought is a car accident," said Dianne Remington. "It is very traumatic."
It wasn't until the Remingtons arrived at the hospital less than an hour later and saw their son sitting upright in the emergency room that they were able to breathe easy.
"I thought I was fine but I think my mom almost fainted," said Remington, who claims no discomfort with the finger, even when it gets whacked during a tackle. "Coach G wouldn't let me see it, but it didn't hurt. It's never hurt. It just went numb."
Grescovich, who has been at Walsh for nearly 35 years, said Remington's injury is one of the most gruesome he's seen.
"We didn't need to have Reed see what it looked like, but it was right up there with some of the others I've seen," said Grescovich. "But, Reed was responsive the whole time. He was very calm. He never gave any of us a sense that he was going into shock."
A decision was made to delay surgery until the next day. Dr. Nina Njus, a hand surgery specialist from Crystal Clinic Orthopedic Center in Fairlawn, was brought in. Nerves, arteries, tendons, ligaments and bones had to be repaired. The surgery took nearly five hours and Remington was hospitalized for five days. Some spring break.
After being released, he was forced to remain indoors for three weeks, with his hand wrapped in a blanket and raised above his heart.
"That was the worst part," said Remington. "The first day or two I slept a lot, but after that, it got real boring. I'd watch 'SportsCenter' and a lot of other TV. I wasn't even allowed to go outside for a walk. It was like I was a prisoner in my own home."
Today, Remington's finger remains slightly bent, resembling an inverted V. He wears a splint inside his lineman's gloves and tapes his index and middle fingers together for protection. He said the finger is nearly straight after each game. He said he will probably undergo another surgery after the season to permanently straighten it. He was given permission in June to return to football.
"The injury didn't hurt, but I was upset about all the hard work I had put in," he said. "I was afraid I was going to lose all that. I knew that I was going to miss a lot of time because of the surgery and that really bothered me. But, I was determined that I wasn't going to miss any of the season. That thought never crossed my mind. It just wasn't going to happen."
Remington said the injury has changed his approach to football and life.
"I'm more grateful for what I have and what I am, that's for sure," he said. "As for football, I play every down as if it's my last. I don't want this season to end and I really don't want it to end before it's supposed to."
He doesn't want the season to end. But when he looks back, it will be remembered as the season that almost didn't have a beginning.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: trogers@plaind.com, 216-999-5169