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Injured hockey player wants brothers to keep playing sport

Kyle Cannon, who was paralyzed on the ice, wouldn't accept his Dad's desire to ban the game.

Kyle Cannon, from Clay High School who broke his neck during a hockey game.

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By Ken Paxson and Debbie Juniewicz
Contributing Writer Updated 1:52 PM Thursday, January 29, 2009

Jim Cannon was scared. Actually, scared was an understatement.

"For the most part, I was a wreck," he said.

Just 22 days after his oldest son, Kyle, was left paralyzed as the result of a broken neck sustained during Beavercreek High School's Frozen Creek hockey tournament at the Kettering Recreation Complex ice arena, his son Chandler was set to return to the ice Monday, Dec. 22. It was the first time the 11-year-old had played hockey since his big brother's devastating accident Nov. 30.

"I cried the whole 45-minute drive to the rink," Jim Cannon said. "I had told Chandler originally, 'You're done, dude,' after Kyle's accident. And he said, 'OK, I know.' "

But Kyle, 14, wouldn't have it.

"We thought Kyle was sleeping when we were talking about his brothers not playing anymore, but he woke up instantly and insisted that they play," Jim said. "He didn't want them to quit for him."

After all, Kyle isn't quitting. The 14-year-old freshman at Oregon Clay High School is undergoing rehabilitation at the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor. He has sensation to his elbows and his navel. He can move his neck and, to an extent, his shoulders. He likely will be in the hospital through mid-February.

"He will, without a doubt, leave there in a wheelchair," Jim said of his son. "Best-case scenario, he will be like this for a year."

Jim has taken a leave of absence from his job to spend more time with his son in Ann Arbor. He knows, however, that the mounting medical bills soon will come due, which makes fundraisers such as those of the Dayton Bombers this weekend so meaningful.

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