Alentado back to work after near-paralysis

On April 18, 2009, sophomore Vincent Alentado was recovering from a morning surgery in Hillsdale Community Health Center's step-down unit. He watched the doctor at the end of the bed.
"Move your toes, please," the doctor said.
He couldn't. In fact, Alentado couldn't feel most of his lower leg.
"Well," the doctor said, before walking out. "You'll never run again."
Alentado came to a conclusion and began writing to his teammates.
"Hey Fellas," he wrote. "I just wanted to start this e-mail by telling each and every one of you how blessed you are to be in this Charger family..."
Five days earlier, the Hillsdale College football team was simulating overtime in its inter-team scrimmage. The last play would be a screen. Alentado, number 42, was an up-and-coming running back for the Chargers. He caught the pass and ran.
Captain Mat Szula hit Alentado. Eight years of playing football told the walk-on to throw his hips in an effort to drop the linebacker. He did, but Szula didn't fall on the ground. Instead, he fell on Alentado's lower leg, shattering both bones.
When the play was over, the team's center came to help Alentado get on his legs. Instead, he looked down, said "Oh, s***," and ran the other way. Alentado was laying by the 20-yard mark, his lower leg bent into a 45 degree angle.
The fallen Alentado was silent — he thought someone else had broken their leg.
By all measures, Alentado's recovery was astonishing. Following the accident, he went through two surgeries, treatment for compartment syndrome, was deprived of sleep due to fatty emboli, a potentially fatal condition, and nerve damage to his lower leg. By the end of the summer he had three screws and a metal rod in his tiba and a screw in his foot.
The following year, he worked as a student coach for the team, placed in the top third of his class while shifting from a planned five-year stay at Hillsdale to four.
Vincent was Charlene Alentado's first born. As an active toddler, his first word was "ball." Charlene said he started playing club football in Tuscon, Ariz. when he was nine. She said he played with a kind of "bad news bears" crowd — some kids sporting ankle monitors. But Vincent kept playing through high-school and was eventually recruited by numerous colleges and universities. He was offered a full-ride to Arizona State University, among others. He chose Hillsdale.
Charlene said she was working with a local charity when a roommate's father called her from the football field, saying Vincent had broken his leg and she may want to be in Hillsdale.
"Basically, the question then was how to get out there," she said.
Charlene Alentado said she couldn't find a flight from Phoenix to Detroit, so she flew to Chicago and drove to Hillsdale. Arriving mid-afternoon, Charlene caught head football coach Keith Otterbein as he was leaving the hospital. He turned around and walked her to Vincent's room. Vincent had an oxygen mask on but was awake when she arrived, surrounded by teammates.
"Everyone's like ‘yeah, he'll be fine for next season,'" said Ron Bedway, housemate and fellow teammate. "I'm sure he was down, but I think he dealt with it very well. Better than most guys would."
When he was told he wouldn't be able to play again, Vincent Alentado looked for other ways to help the team.
"The very first day he was upset, shocked and disappointed," Charlene Alentado said. "But after that, he just moved on."
Bedway was surprised at how soon Vincent Alentado seemed to bounce back.
For the last few school weeks, he was confined to a wheelchair and crutches. His girlfriend, Stephanie Booms, alumna of '09, said he tried spending most of his time out of the wheelchair. Charlene Alentado wheeled him around to his tests.
During the summer, he had more surgeries. A blister had formed on his right foot because of claw-toe, keeping his toes firmly curled — a consequence of compartment syndrome. A blister had formed on his big-toe. His nerve damage wouldn't allow him to feel the blister. It became infected, forcing a slight amputation of his big toe. He underwent corrective surgery to straighten the rest of his toes.
But Vincent Alentado said the worst pain was feeling the nerve trying to repair itself.
"It was basically like getting struck by a lightning bolt almost every ten seconds," Alentado said. "It was the worst thing."
That fall, Vincent worked as a student coach for the football team. He became coach Pat Hornak's right-hand man with processing videos. When a practice video was shot for the football team, Alentado would sit in a room no larger than a closet syncing recordings and uploading the processed films to a server for the team.
"He never complained about it," Hornak said. "That was his new role, and he ran with it."
Otterbein said sometimes injured athletes who can't compete suffer from a damaged sense of self-worth. He wanted to keep Alentado close, allowing him to contribute to the team.
"He worked so hard," he said. "He was going to be a very good football player."
But Alentado's participation didn't end with football. He became the president of the biology honorary, Tri Beta; the historian for the science honorary, Sigma Zeta; and a member of Omicron Delta Kappa, which only inducts the top ten students in a senior class.
Assistant professor of biology Jeffrey VanZant said Alentado received funding to research as a laureate for the biology department last summer. He said Alentado's work focused on genetic decay and expects his research to be published this year.
Now, Alentado said he's waiting to be accepted into med-school. He's applied to Vanderbilt University and the University of Pittsburgh.
"Vince never did have a football scholarship," Charlene Alentado said. "But he did have a full academic ride — based on him coming back and working his ass off."
When Vincent Alentado finished his email, he said that he wouldn't be able to run again in his life. He can now run up to a mile in rounded shoes. What Alentado expressed to his teammates is to not give up.
"So what I want you, my Charger brothers, to take from this is that you should make sure to give every fiber of your existence into the things you love because you never know when those things may be taken from you," He wrote. "However, do not fear the unexpected, but instead allow yourselves to adjust to your situation. God did not make a mistake in His plan for me."