Synopsis

As a powerfully built, third-year tight end with the Buffalo Bills, Kevin Everett had it all: a promising NFL future, a beautiful girlfriend whom he planned to marry, and an engaging personality that made him one of his team's most popular players. He also had a wonderful family that included his devoted mother and his three adoring younger sisters, for whom he had recently purchased a home in suburban Houston, Texas. And then, in a fraction of a second, his life was changed forever when he was paralyzed while making a tackle against the Denver Broncos in the 2007 season opener. Suddenly, the 25-year-old Everett was in the fight of his life. The doctor who performed the surgery said he didn't expect Everett to walk again and that he feared for the player's life. But Everett was determined to beat the astronomical odds, and so was his West African-born girlfriend, Wiande, whose poignant role helped transform a football tragedy into an unlikely love story.

Biography

Sam Carchidi has been a staff writer and South Jersey sports columnist at The Philadelphia Inquirer since 1984. Carchidi co-authored Miracle in the Making: The Adam Taliaferro Story, about a Penn State player's remarkable recovery from a paralyzing spinal injury.