Back from the brink

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Once a stylish wicketkeeper, businessman Barry DeCouto was struck down with a crushed vertebrae in his spine here is how he regained the ability to walk

By Lawrence Trott

The same sports that might have, in some way, contributed to Barry’s DeCouto’s serious back injury, could also have given him the mental toughness to bounce back from the near crippling condition over the last five years.

Even his surgeon at Lahey Clinic in Boston, Dr Reese Cosgrove, wasn’t entirely convinced that the former top cricketer, footballer and golfer would walk again after being struck down by a spinal cord injury.

But Mr DeCouto dug deep into the mental toughness that made him one of the Island’s top wicketkeepers in the 1970s and ‘80s to defy the odds and get back on his feet, literally.

“It was October 7, 2006, and my good friend (Edward) ‘Tinty’ Ming’s birthday golf tournament at Belmont,” Mr DeCouto recalls.

“I had a little twitch in my back when you play golf you get those things from time to time and I didn’t think much of it.

“I kept playing and as the round progressed the twitching and pain got progressively worse.

“I went home and went to bed and the next day it wasn’t too bad, but the second day when I tried to get out of bed I was totally unable to walk and the pain in my back and legs was intense.

“I went to a chiropractor and she said I would need an MRI because it looked pretty serious.

“I went home and stayed home for a day and decided I’d better go to the hospital. Eventually I left the hospital and went home, but five hours later couldn’t take it and called my sister and went back to the hospital.

“That was about 10pm. Fortunately for me there was a Dr Olasak who came out and asked me what was wrong.

“He got me admitted and made arrangements the next morning to get an MRI. He came and read it and said ‘the disc has collapsed and is sticking in your spinal cord and you are on the verge of being paralysed’.

“He called a doctor friend at Lahey Clinic Dr Reece Cosgrove and said ‘I’m organising the air ambulance for you’.”

Mr DeCouto flew out that night and arrived at Lahey around midnight.

“The doctor (Dr Cosgrove) came to see me the next morning and told me what he was going to do.

“He told me ‘I have to put a hole in your back about six inches, to open up the vertebrae and ticklishly take all that disc away from your spinal cord.

“I’m dealing with your whole lifeline, I can’t afford to make a mistake’. He said ‘but I’m the best in the world at what I do’.”

After the surgery Mr DeCouto was told he would have to spend nine months to a year in therapy at the New England Rehab Center in nearby Woburn, Massachusetts, as he prepared to win the toughest match of his life.

He endured three hours of therapy twice a day with three different therapists to initially build upper body strength.

“Being a sportsman I’m used to training and only needed to hear it once,” he said. “I didn’t have nine months to a year being up there, I wanted to get out.

“After my strength got better I transferred to a walker and after five or six weeks I graduated to a cane while other people were still in a wheelchair.”

Just before Christmas that year the doctors gave Mr DeCouto good news, that ‘we think it is time for you to go. You have done remarkably well and the rest is up to you’.

Dr Cosgrove continued to see Mr DeCouto during visits to Bermuda as he slowly got back on his feet. He had good reason to celebrate his 60th birthday last September.

“The first two years was the hardest because of the nerve system not functioning properly,” he said. “I was in diapers and pampers for almost two years.

“As a result of being at home I put on a lot of weight and went up to 300lbs. Almost three-and-half years went by and I started to do a bit of walking, five minutes, ten minutes. I gradually increased it to 15, 20, 25 minutes and was up to four of five miles a week.”

Swimming at John Smith’s Bay five or six days a week also helped his recovery as he met a nurse, Tifanie Campbell, a Bermudian who lives abroad, who provided a great source of encouragement.

Mr DeCouto regularly sees Dr Cosgrove when he visits Bermuda.

“Every six months he would see me and he would shake my hand. He said to me ‘I never thought I would see you standing up and walking again, you are a miracle patient’.

“He said ‘I have never seen anybody overcome what you have been through, you must be quite a determined fella’.

“I said ‘I have a lot of life to live for. I’ve been a sportsman, I’ve always been a winner and I will overcome this as well’.

“Determination, a good mindset and a will to get out there and do that every day helped me get back. And I lost 75lbs in a 12-month period. My diet has changed now.”

He added: “It is one of the most humbling experiences I’ve ever had in my life. The simple things we do every day as a human being ... shower, shave and get dressed ... was such a big deal for me.

“I couldn’t do that, I had to have help with everything. I couldn’t put socks on for four-and-a-half years because I couldn’t get down that far.

“Now I can put shoes on, stand in the shower without a chair and get dressed. I’m back playing golf again, exercising. I’m thankful for my parents being there non-stop every day and meeting that young lady who saw something in me and encouraged me.”

He encourages others to never give up in similar situations.

“Don’t ever give up,” he urged. “That’s been the basis of my recovery, because of the (sports) background that I had. You have to have the right mental approach for recovery.”

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