

SAN JOSE — Robert Paylor has always been a determined sort — and it’s a trait that’s served him well.

His determination was evident when he would sneak out after rugby practice to get in a few more hours of practice. It worked. He landed the position of “starter” on the rugby team as a sophomore at UC Berkeley.

Now the 20-year-old is using every bit of that grit to recover after a life-changing accident that left him paralyzed from the chest down during the first moments of a national rugby championship game at Santa Clara University on May 6.

“I think that that spirit and that grit to really get through this and reach his potential is going to serve him well,” said Stephen McKenna, chief of the Rehabilitation Trauma Center at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center.

Paylor’s story has touched his family, friends, teammates and even strangers.

“We’ve literally heard from people all over the world. There’s been an outpouring of love and support,” said his father, Jeff Paylor. The GoFundMe page to raise money for Paylor’s healing and rehab has raised over $600,000 so far and sparked nearly 100 comments from friends and strangers.

At Jesuit High School in Sacramento, where Paylor graduated, players dedicated their recent championship rugby game to Paylor as they sported their “Robert Paylor Strong” wristbands.

“He’s a very good rugby player and he’s a better teammate. … His teamship qualities are extraordinary,” said Jack Clark, head coach of Cal’s rugby team.

Doctors are hopeful that he may eventually recover some feeling in his body. He was fortunate that the accident happened within a few miles of the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center — which specializes in spinal cord injury — and was able to receive early, appropriate intervention.

His next milestone will be moving from the critical care unit to rehabilitation so that a team of doctors and nurses will guide him in exercises to build up his strength, McKenna said. It’s a move he expects to happen this week, even as early as Wednesday.

Paylor suffered the injury to two vertebrae near the base of his neck during a derby move called a “maul.” It caused the disc in between the vertebrae to push against the spinal cord. Doctors loosely define spinal cord injuries as “incomplete” and “complete.” Paylor’s is incomplete because he has sensation in his spinal cord that can still send signals to the brain.

“We would like to have those signals to also be able to go down from his brain to all of his muscles,” McKenna said. “He’s not at that point right now. People who have sensation that go all the way to the bottom of their spinal cord have a better chance of having recovery of those types of strength in their hands and eventually in their feet.”

He has already undergone decompression surgery in which doctors took out the moved disc and replaced it with a bone matrix that allows bone in that area to heal.

“Each person who has that injury has their own journey to recover and that journey is going to be a long one,” McKenna said. “I know that the effort that he’s going to bring to that process of recovery is going to be extraordinary.”

Paylor has some strength in his biceps, can move his wrists slightly and feel down to his toes. “With the type of injury that he has we would expect him to have some degree of recovery naturally over the next year that could include some recovery of his hand function,” McKenna said.

Paylor’s spinal cord injury also caused weakened abdominal and lung muscles, which made it difficult for him to cough and get rid of secretions like mucus. Respiratory weakness led to pneumonia, a common complication following spinal cord injuries, according to Dr. Edward Chaw, the associate chief of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Valley Medical Center.

“Our nervous system does an extraordinary amount to keep our body in a state of balance, and we can’t really appreciate that until we have a dysfunction on our nerves,” said Chaw.

When Paylor contracted pneumonia following the accident, McKenna asked him if he’d be willing to do an uncomfortable, difficult breathing treatment that involves hours of pumping under his rib cage. True to form, Paylor looked at him and said “I’ve done harder things,” McKenna said.

“Lying there, they would be pumping on him for hours, but he just said ‘bring it on,’” said Paylor’s father. “He’ll take whatever pain he needs to endure to get better.”

Paylor’s father said that his son gives him hope: “I’m just hoping for baby steps, small incremental steps. The littlest thing is the biggest thing.”