KoriEllis
09-16-2004, 03:18 AM
Manute Bol faces long battle back
www.kansascity.com/mld/ka...888.htm?1c (http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/9664888.htm?1c)
There's a basketball hoop outside Manute Bol's window at the Hospital for Special Care in New Britain, Conn., but he doesn't look at it.
Bol, the famed NBA shot blocker, has a broken neck and wears a collar that restricts his movement. He lies in a specially constructed bed to support his 7-foot, 7-inch body, which was badly injured in a taxi cab accident June 30. The single-car crash killed the driver and left Bol near death.
Bol, who blocked 2,086 shots during his 10-year NBA career, faces a long climb back from three fractured vertebrae in his neck, a sizeable head wound, a mangled left wrist and internal injuries.
“I am very lucky to be alive,” said Bol, 43, in his first interview since the accident in Colchester, Conn. “If God wants to take my left arm, that's OK, as long as I can walk and play with my kids.”
The taxi driver, Neville Robinson, 48, of Hartford, was driving under the influence. Bol has sued the cab company. He is broke, has no health insurance and is not yet eligible for his NBA pension.
He gave away an estimated $3.2 million to help his countrymen fight the Islamic government in Sudan, and he's not sorry he did.
Still, as he lies in bed, his mind wanders.
“I was wondering, what did I do wrong to God?” he said.
www.kansascity.com/mld/ka...888.htm?1c (http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/9664888.htm?1c)
There's a basketball hoop outside Manute Bol's window at the Hospital for Special Care in New Britain, Conn., but he doesn't look at it.
Bol, the famed NBA shot blocker, has a broken neck and wears a collar that restricts his movement. He lies in a specially constructed bed to support his 7-foot, 7-inch body, which was badly injured in a taxi cab accident June 30. The single-car crash killed the driver and left Bol near death.
Bol, who blocked 2,086 shots during his 10-year NBA career, faces a long climb back from three fractured vertebrae in his neck, a sizeable head wound, a mangled left wrist and internal injuries.
“I am very lucky to be alive,” said Bol, 43, in his first interview since the accident in Colchester, Conn. “If God wants to take my left arm, that's OK, as long as I can walk and play with my kids.”
The taxi driver, Neville Robinson, 48, of Hartford, was driving under the influence. Bol has sued the cab company. He is broke, has no health insurance and is not yet eligible for his NBA pension.
He gave away an estimated $3.2 million to help his countrymen fight the Islamic government in Sudan, and he's not sorry he did.
Still, as he lies in bed, his mind wanders.
“I was wondering, what did I do wrong to God?” he said.