A decade after injury, former Saxon Fuentes walks off field to standing ovation
Julio Fuentes and his walk video
ALFRED, NY – Ten years ago, during the Alfred football team's 2006 season opener, Julio Fuentes was taken from the field on a stretcher, paralyzed from the waist down due to a severe spinal injury he suffered while blocking on a kickoff.
A decade later, Fuentes was back on the turf of Yunevich Stadium, this time as honorary captain for the Saxons' 2016 season opener, Saturday (Sept. 3) against visiting Husson University.
After the pregame coin toss, Fuentes, flanked by staff from Rehabilitation Today, the Olean facility where he has been receiving physical and occupational therapy the last three years, rolled his wheelchair toward the home sideline. There, his family, including his younger brother Maleke, a standout receiver/tailback for the Saxons, waited for him.
About 15 yards from the sideline, he stopped. With assistance from Rehab Today staff, he got to his feet, gripping a walker. Then, urged on by clapping players from AU and Husson, and with a capacity crowd in the home stands cheering him on, Fuentes walked those final 15 yards to the sideline.
It marked the latest segment of Fuentes' long journey toward recovery. Following his injury in 2006, doctors told him he would never walk again. After a month spent at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, in which he was placed in an induced coma, Fuentes spent six months at the Shepherd Center, a catastrophic care hospital for traumatic brain and spinal injuries in Atlanta. He returned to the family home in Olean and began undergoing inpatient and outpatient physical therapy.
Contrary to what doctors told him initially, he has regained movement in his arms and upper body and, to a lesser extent, his legs and lower body. Fuentes' goal, now and for the last 10 years, has been to walk again. He showed Saturday that he's on his way to making that happen.
Perhaps inspired by Fuentes, the Saxons rallied from an early seven-point deficit and eventually came away with a hard-fought 35-28 win. Fuentes watched from the sidelines, as he has for several of his younger brother's home games.
Fuentes, now 29 and living in Olean, has another goal: going back to school and earning his degree. A criminal justice major during his time at AU, Fuentes hopes to return to college soon, with aspirations of earning a degree in counseling.
"I definitely want to go back to school," Fuentes said recently, noting he has taken some on-line courses from Jamestown Community College. "I've done well. I want to go back; I will go back."
"I want to get a counseling degree and help people in my position. I've been through a lot. People who are hurt like I was are initially down and out and don't know what to do. I was in that position and needed someone to help me."