In the past 31 years, 228 prep players have suffered catastrophic cervical spinal cord injuries from which they did not fully recover, according to the Annual Survey of Catastrophic Football Injuries, published by the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research at the University of North Carolina. There were 10 in 2007, and most occurred while the player was on defense.
Beside his wheelchair on Mason-Hale's bed lie three necessities of life for any 16-year-old - a cell phone, a PlayStation Portable and a DVD player. He can text message with the help of a pointer, and he is still pretty proficient at the PSP games. His next goal is to play his Xbox, but the toggle controls require more dexterity in his fingers than he has.
In 10 weeks, Mason-Hale has come a long way. During two weeks at Maryland Shock Trauma Center, he had surgery twice - to relieve the pressure of the bone fragments on his spinal canal and then to fuse the broken bone to provide more stability in his neck.
He's working to get stronger after losing 50 pounds from his 6-foot-3, 185-pound frame, spending extra time at physical and occupational therapy. He keeps up with his studies, too, so he can graduate on time.
"I try to encourage him to think of this as just like another voyage, another adventure," said his mother, Aliecia Mason-Hale. "Everything that he wants to do he can still do. He just has to do it differently. It just may not be as immediate to get the results that you want."
Dr. Henry S. York, Chris Mason-Hale's physician at Kernan, said he can't pinpoint a prognosis because recovery can come over a short time, a long time or not at all.
"We're never going to say never in this circumstance," York said. "Certain things about his injury give us reason to be optimistic, but we can't say for sure.
"We think Chris is going to be very successful because of his great attitude," he added, "and we have the resources and technology to allow him to be independent now."
Mason-Hale likely will go home in early December with his parents and siblings Teddy, 14, and Maya, 12. Their two-story house in Windsor Mill will need extensive remodeling to accommodate a wheelchair.
As the Mason-Hales contemplate that, the medical bills have begun to arrive. Although his father, Gary Hale, has heath insurance, he said "a big chunk" of the expense will fall on the family. The first bill, from Shock Trauma, was about $138,000.
