Ryan Shazier walking onto the field was the highlight of Steelers camp
By Cody Rivera
Ryan Shazier once again showed the tremendous progress he’s made since his horrifying injury back in December.
Last December, on Monday Night Football, Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier united a nation of football fans when he suffered what appeared to be a very serious injury to his back.
Shazier charged head first into Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Josh Malone to make a tackle, and he immediately went to the ground clutching at his spine. The incident left him completely unable to move his legs, and suddenly, football no longer seemed important.
It was pretty obvious Shazier’s season was over. It didn’t seem unlikely that his football career might be over. And there were plenty of questions about if he would every walk again.
Eight months later, however, Shazier walked onto the field at Steelers training camp, as he shared in a video on Twitter along with a very inspirational tweet. It’s clear that walking still isn’t the easiest thing in the world for Shazier to do, but it’s great to see the progress he has made in the last eight months.
Today was a great day. The team had a wonderful practice. But I also got to enjoy the fans‼️ If you were able to make it to the stadium, here if a little bit of what happened‼️ I promise you the lord is not done working yet‼️ 🤫🙏🏽💯 Keep Shalieving 5️⃣0️⃣ #shalieve🙏 pic.twitter.com/LHiRXHa5gN
— Ryan Shazier (@RyanShazier) August 4, 2018
After the injury, it was revealed that Shazier had suffered a spinal contusion, and he underwent spinal stabilization surgery. While still a very serious injury, as is any kind of injury that involves the spine, it was fortunately not as severe as it could’ve been. The really neat part about the video Shazier shared is that he walked onto the field completely unassisted, albeit with a limp, when he had been using a cane for several months.
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Shazier will not play at all during the 2018 season, but he said back in June that he hopes his football career isn’t over.
“My dream is to come back and play football again,” Shazier said, according to NFL.com. “I’ve been working my tail off every single day, so I have that in the back of my mind every single time I go to rehab. I just try to stay positive every day, so I’m just trying to do everything I can to get back.”
Shazier continues to be an inspiration for anybody that has ever been the victim of a serious injury.