Inspiring Recovery: Spinal Cord Injury Dirt Bike Racing in Nevada Desert

A great day dirt bike racing in Wilson Canyon, Yerington, Nevada, ended with a spinal cord injury. Perry Levine beat the odds with an inspiring recovery at Renown Rehabilitation Hospital.
Levine headed to the desert with a group of friends and his boss to try out his brand new bike. It was a lot of fun until the weather changed and it began to rain. "I was coming down a hill and I started sliding sideways. A foot away from the cliff, I was like ‘Oh my God’ and fell off the cliff and landed on my bike, and my butt hit the seat. I was laying there and I just remember that my legs and everything below my waist were numb. I couldn't walk."
Levine rode out of the Canyon 14 miles on the back of his boss' bike. His parents took him to Renown Regional Medical Center where he stayed in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for a few days and underwent surgery for an L5 burst fracture. A burst fracture is an injury in which the vertebra, the primary bone of the spine, breaks in multiple directions.
Levine ended up at the Renown Rehabilitation Hospital for intensive physical and other therapy for his spinal cord injury.
"There was a big question of whether he was ever going to regain some of the motor function in his legs and the function of his bowels, the function of his bladder," says Renown Rehab Doctor, Tim Pence, DO, Physiatrist.
Levine worked extremely hard several hours a day with staff of the Rehab Hospital. Miraculously, he was able to leave the Hospital in a week wearing an upper body brace.
renown.org/RehabHospital
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