Jason Priestley Seriously Injured. . . .

[Raena]

Actor Priestley's Spine Fractured
Sun Aug 11, 5:52 PM ET
By STEVE HERMAN, AP Sports Writer

SPARTA, Ky. (AP) - Actor Jason Priestley's race car crashed head-on into a wall at nearly 180 mph Sunday at the Kentucky Speedway, breaking his back and leaving him in serious condition with a concussion and other injuries.


The former "Beverly Hills 90210" television star was flown to the University of Kentucky Medical Center with a spinal fracture in the middle of his back and a closed head injury, as well as broken bones in both feet, Indy Racing League medical director Henry Bock said.

Priestley was on a respirator to keep him sedated, but he was breathing on his own and was alert, Bock said.

"At this time, there's no indication there's any other injury to the head (besides a concussion)," Bock said. "His vital signs are stable. ... He has his eyes open, he looks around and will follow commands."

Bock said there was no sign of paralysis and that tests on Priestley would continue probably through the night. He would not speculate on how long his recovery would take.

Priestley, 32, crashed coming out of the second turn in the final practice for the Kentucky 100, an Infiniti Pro Series race.

"He got sideways and he corrected and then shot off the track," said former Indy 500 winner Arie Luyendyk, whose son, Arie Jr., competes with Priestley in the Infiniti Pro Series, an IRL developmental series.

"He turned right into the wall, and his first impact was basically head-on," Luyendyk said. "I saw it from the top of the roof. What I'm thinking is that's really the one big hit that he took that might have hurt him."

Luyendyk said Priestley appeared to have driven through "oil-dry," an absorbent material that had been spread on part of the track about 10 minutes earlier to soak up oil from another car.

All the drivers had been warned to avoid it, IRL vice president Fred Nation said.

Priestley began racing in 1991 in the California Rally Series and won his first race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 1998.

Last season, he was a broadcast analyst for the IRL series, and this year, he joined the Kelley Racing team in the new Infiniti Pro Series, a developmental circuit with open-wheel cars that are similar but smaller and less powerful than the IRL cars.

After a strong qualifying run on Saturday in which he came in second, Priestley had said that confidence was a key to racing.

"With these cars, so much of it is just being able to keep your foot in it and understand that the car actually will hold the road," he said. "I guess in a lot of ways most oval drivers at some time just put their faith in a higher power that they're actually going to make it around the corner."

"He's shown he's a good racer," driver Ed Carpenter said after the crash. "It's sad anytime one of our competitors gets hurt."

Priestley has been in crashes before. In April, he crashed a powerboat during a race in Miami, leaving one crew member with cracked ribs. In 1995, he crashed into a ditch during the Michelin SCCA Pro Rally in Olympia, Wash., but recovered to finish the race.

Last year, he completed an alcohol counseling program he was ordered to attend when he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor DUI charge stemming from a December 1999 car crash in the Hollywood Hills. The accident totaled Priestley's Porsche and broke a friend's arm.

Priestley, a native of British Columbia, became a TV heartthrob starring with Luke Perry, Shannen Doherty and Jennie Garth in the Fox network's "Beverly Hills 90210," which ran from 1990 to 2000.

He was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards ( news - web sites) and produced and directed a number of documentaries, television dramas, cable network specials and music videos. His film credits include "Eye of the Beholder," "Calendar Girl" and "Love and Death on Long Island."

*********************************************

I was just watching this race earlier today too. God bless him.



[This message has been edited by Raena (edited 08-11-2002).]

[The Postmaster General]

i just heard too. that's too bad. i dressed up as brandon walsh for halloween 1995 and got alot of positive attention except for the person who calld me a dork.

he seems like a cool dude who just keeps running into bad times.

good luck to him~!

[Sam Hain]

an unfortunate accident.
however,there are risks.every race car driver knows that its just a matter of time before thier "big one" happens.
sure h'll come thru just fine.

[The Shadow]

Hope he gets through ok. If we were never down, how would we know when we were up?

[Tom Samborski]

He will probably be okay. If he is breathing on his own, and follows commands that is a good sign. Although he might have trouble walking because of a spinal cord injury.

[jackson13]

I know what its like to have spinal problems, but not a broken back. I used to have scoliosis, really bad. The only way they could fix it was by installing 2 steel rods and 8 screws into my spine and vertebre, keeping my spine in a straight line. I had the surgery 3 years ago, the surgery was 9 hours long. The whole surgery I was laying on my stomach, and because of the way I had been laying those 9 hours, my left leg became paralyzed. Every nerve in my left leg quit working. I had no use in it for over a week, and slowly it came back to life. After the surgery I was bedridden for 3 days, unable to move due to the pain in back and throughout my whole body. I had to have a catheter put in so I could use the restroom, and on the 3rd day they pulled it out. I thought nothing could hurt more than that, I was wrong. Because I couldnt stand/walk, I couldnt use the restroom, I swelled up. That night they put the catheter back in, without anesthetic. You talk about pain, whooo. (A catheter is a tube that goes through your penis and into your bladder, allowing you to go to the bathroom whenever needed). Eventually I was able to stand and take baby steps, but most of the time I was confined to a wheelchair. I slowly began to walk, but not without the help of a walker. My scoliosis was so bad that I grew 4 inches thanks to the surgery. I went from being 6 foot to 6 foot 4. I came home after 8 days, with hardly any feeling in my leg, and addicted to morphine. For over a year, I had no "senses" in my leg. It was impervious to hot and cold, and I could punch it as hard as I could, without feeling it or having it bruise. In fact, I got so tired of not being able to feel cold in the leg, I went outside in the dead of winter and packed snow on my leg, but to no avail. 3 years later, I have feeling back in the leg, but I have 2 problems, I have no reflexes in my knee, the doctor thumps it as hard as he can, and it doesnt twitch, the other leg does, but this one is "dead". The second problem is, if I sit, for even 5 minutes without moving my leg, it falls asleep, and takes forever to "wake up". People have asked me if I have Parkinsons Disease because im always bouncing my leg up and down to keep it from falling asleep. Back problems are a bitch, a total pain in the ass. 3 years since my surgery and I still get at least 2 pinched nerves in my back a week. Some people cant handle pain, and they damn near break down when they get a pinched nerve, to me, it seems like almost nothing. Im not saying im He-Man or something, but the surgery has given me a high tolerance for pain.
Your probably wondering where the hell im going with this story. I wish the best for Jason Preistly, I've been down that road, I still travel it sometimes, in fact, I could be making a return trip down that road because one of the rods in my back has broken and I may need another surgery to fix it. I know what its like to have back problems, and if I could talk to him right now, I'd tell him everythings gonna be ok. I thought about dying after my surgery because I was in so much pain, I just wanted to end it all. But I fought through it, and I know he will too. Because I fought through it, im stronger than I've ever been, and if he has the strength to fight through all of this too, he will be stronger than ever himself.

[This message has been edited by jackson13 (edited 08-11-2002).]

[Mike]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by jackson13:
I know what its like to have spinal problems, but not a broken back. I used to have scoliosis, really bad. The only way they could fix it was by installing 2 steel rods and 8 screws into my spine and vertebre, keeping my spine in a straight line. I had the surgery 3 years ago, the surgery was 9 hours long. The whole surgery I was laying on my stomach, and because of the way I had been laying those 9 hours, my left leg became paralyzed. Every nerve in my left leg quit working. I had no use in it for over a week, and slowly it came back to life. After the surgery I was bedridden for 3 days, unable to move due to the pain in back and throughout my whole body. I had to have a catheter put in so I could use the restroom, and on the 3rd day they pulled it out. I thought nothing could hurt more than that, I was wrong. Because I couldnt stand/walk, I couldnt use the restroom, I swelled up. That night they put the catheter back in, without anesthetic. You talk about pain, whooo. (A catheter is a tube that goes through your penis and into your bladder, allowing you to go to the bathroom whenever needed). Eventually I was able to stand and take baby steps, but most of the time I was confined to a wheelchair. I slowly began to walk, but not without the help of a walker. My scoliosis was so bad that I grew 4 inches thanks to the surgery. I went from being 6 foot to 6 foot 4. I came home after 8 days, with hardly any feeling in my leg, and addicted to morphine. For over a year, I had no "senses" in my leg. It was impervious to hot and cold, and I could punch it as hard as I could, without feeling it or having it bruise. In fact, I got so tired of not being able to feel cold in the leg, I went outside in the dead of winter and packed snow on my leg, but to no avail. 3 years later, I have feeling back in the leg, but I have 2 problems, I have no reflexes in my knee, the doctor thumps it as hard as he can, and it doesnt twitch, the other leg does, but this one is "dead". The second problem is, if I sit, for even 5 minutes without moving my leg, it falls asleep, and takes forever to "wake up". People have asked me if I have Parkinsons Disease because im always bouncing my leg up and down to keep it from falling asleep. Back problems are a bitch, a total pain in the ass. 3 years since my surgery and I still get at least 2 pinched nerves in my back a week. Some people cant handle pain, and they damn near break down when they get a pinched nerve, to me, it seems like almost nothing. Im not saying im He-Man or something, but the surgery has given me a high tolerance for pain.
Your probably wondering where the hell im going with this story. I wish the best for Jason Preistly, I've been down that road, I still travel it sometimes, in fact, I could be making a return trip down that road because one of the rods in my back has broken and I may need another surgery to fix it. I know what its like to have back problems, and if I could talk to him right now, I'd tell him everythings gonna be ok. I thought about dying after my surgery because I was in so much pain, I just wanted to end it all. But I fought through it, and I know he will too. Because I fought through it, im stronger than I've ever been, and if he has the strength to fight through all of this too, he will be stronger than ever himself.

[This message has been edited by jackson13 (edited 08-11-2002).]</font>

Wow, that's horrible. I feel really bad for you, I don't think I could do it. Good luck with everything.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your story with us, it was a really interesting read.

[Raena]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by jackson13:
I know what its like to have spinal problems, but not a broken back. I used to have scoliosis, really bad. The only way they could fix it was by installing 2 steel rods and 8 screws into my spine and vertebre, keeping my spine in a straight line. I had the surgery 3 years ago, the surgery was 9 hours long. The whole surgery I was laying on my stomach, and because of the way I had been laying those 9 hours, my left leg became paralyzed. Every nerve in my left leg quit working. I had no use in it for over a week, and slowly it came back to life. After the surgery I was bedridden for 3 days, unable to move due to the pain in back and throughout my whole body. I had to have a catheter put in so I could use the restroom, and on the 3rd day they pulled it out. I thought nothing could hurt more than that, I was wrong. Because I couldnt stand/walk, I couldnt use the restroom, I swelled up. That night they put the catheter back in, without anesthetic. You talk about pain, whooo. (A catheter is a tube that goes through your penis and into your bladder, allowing you to go to the bathroom whenever needed). Eventually I was able to stand and take baby steps, but most of the time I was confined to a wheelchair. I slowly began to walk, but not without the help of a walker. My scoliosis was so bad that I grew 4 inches thanks to the surgery. I went from being 6 foot to 6 foot 4. I came home after 8 days, with hardly any feeling in my leg, and addicted to morphine. For over a year, I had no "senses" in my leg. It was impervious to hot and cold, and I could punch it as hard as I could, without feeling it or having it bruise. In fact, I got so tired of not being able to feel cold in the leg, I went outside in the dead of winter and packed snow on my leg, but to no avail. 3 years later, I have feeling back in the leg, but I have 2 problems, I have no reflexes in my knee, the doctor thumps it as hard as he can, and it doesnt twitch, the other leg does, but this one is "dead". The second problem is, if I sit, for even 5 minutes without moving my leg, it falls asleep, and takes forever to "wake up". People have asked me if I have Parkinsons Disease because im always bouncing my leg up and down to keep it from falling asleep. Back problems are a bitch, a total pain in the ass. 3 years since my surgery and I still get at least 2 pinched nerves in my back a week. Some people cant handle pain, and they damn near break down when they get a pinched nerve, to me, it seems like almost nothing. Im not saying im He-Man or something, but the surgery has given me a high tolerance for pain.
Your probably wondering where the hell im going with this story. I wish the best for Jason Preistly, I've been down that road, I still travel it sometimes, in fact, I could be making a return trip down that road because one of the rods in my back has broken and I may need another surgery to fix it. I know what its like to have back problems, and if I could talk to him right now, I'd tell him everythings gonna be ok. I thought about dying after my surgery because I was in so much pain, I just wanted to end it all. But I fought through it, and I know he will too. Because I fought through it, im stronger than I've ever been, and if he has the strength to fight through all of this too, he will be stronger than ever himself.

[This message has been edited by jackson13 (edited 08-11-2002).]</font>


Thanks for sharing your story. Takes a strong person to get through something like that, let alone sharing it with others. If I'm ever feeling down I'm going to think about what you've said. You've given me some strength.

[The Shadow]

Raena said it better than I ever could. Take care man, hope your future opens great doors and wonderful oppertunities.

[jackson13]

The only thing my surgery has kept me from doing is play contact sports. Football, hockey, hell even basketball is a contact sport now. I can play those if its like flag football or "21" basketball. I've played baseball pretty much my entire life and the doctor said I wouldnt be able to play baseball like I used to because I cant bend my back, which means, I cant slide into a base or dive to catch a ball because if I land wrong I could seriously injure myself. But, im still accomplishing things they said I wouldnt do again to this day. I had a ball game last week and as I was running to third, the ball came before me, so without even thinking, I dropped down and did a perfect Ty Cobb slide. I was out, but that didnt matter because I had done a perfect slide and its given me new hope for next season (I say next season because that was a tournament game and we lost, so this season is over). I had my surgery done by the wonderfull doctors at Shriners Childrens Hospital in Oak Park, Illinois. The surgery was free, because it was done by Shriners. Shriners provide free surgeries to children who have big medical handicaps that their parents could never afford to pay for. During my first check up I asked the doctor how much my surgery would have cost and he said that the 8 screws cost 100,000 a piece and the 2 rods were 200,000 a piece. I was a little shocked to know that I had that much money invested in my body.
At my last check up, X-Rays showed that the rod on the left side of my spine is broken in half. The week following that check up was rough for me because I was waiting to hear from the doctors on whether or not I was to have another surgery to fix it. The word finally came, as of right now I dont need surgery. If it starts to get worse, like if the rod starts putting pressure on my spine or nerve endings, then I will need surgery. Im hoping and praying nothing like that will happen because even though I got through it, I never want to go through that ordeal again. However, I have decided that if I was to have another surgery, Im going to buy a video camera and have my surgery vidoetaped. I think it would very interesting to see what everything looks like that is attached to my spine and interesting to see how the doctors go about doing the job. A lot of people might think its gross that I want to videotape my own surgery, but I find it to be very interesting. Im happy that you have found encouragement through my words, but to me it doesnt seem like such a big deal, it's something I lived through, an obstacle in my life that I had to get over in order to move on. And move on I did.

[The Postmaster General]

Don't ever give up!!

http://www.adoptioncrossroads.org/Nogveup.jpg

[GiGi1010]

Jackson,that is one hell of a story! I'm realy glad you are doing better, and I hope you don't have to undergo another surgery. Nothing, well, maye except dental problems and labor, competes with back pain. My thoughts are with you, buddy! (smile) I hope that Jason Priestly comes through this, and his Doctor's are dilligent to monitor his pain med's, so he dosen't become addicted. On another note, I just don't understand WHY people go out and persue dangerous sports like this. 180 MPH at the time of impact? C'mon! He might as well have been standing in a pool skimming it holding the metal rod during a thunderstorm! It isn't like he didn't know the dangers, so...

[The Postmaster General]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by GiGi1010:
I just don't understand WHY people go out and persue dangerous sports like this. 180 MPH at the time of impact? C'mon! He might as well have been standing in a pool skimming it holding the metal rod during a thunderstorm! It isn't like he didn't know the dangers, so...</font>

the same could be said for actors who play in action roles and do their own stunts. i don't knock someone for doing what they want to do.

Alliah, Brandon and Bruce Lee...

ps - what is considered a dangeous sport? i think i would do just as well running into a wall at 180mph, as being hit by an angry 370lb football player....

even in baseball, you risk being hit by a 90mph fastball.

[Scrunch]

That is an amazing and inspiring story... Within the last year or so I have had two friends who have suffered nerve damage that's caused them horrible pain though compared to what you went through it sounds like these weren't so bad.

One was electrocuted and has been on various pain medications that just aren't working. One of the nerves in her arm is totally messed up and she's in near constant pain. They're talking surgery for her now but it sounds really scary the way it's described.

The other fell off a horse and broke a bunch of ribs and one arm. She suffered nerve damage in the arm and for a long time was incredibly sensitive to hot and cold to the point that anything was painful.

[GiGi1010]

I really makes one think about how lucky they are. As Bubbastrangelove (and I love that handle, BTW!) said, what and why do it? Here in Texas, Motocross is very popular, and I dated a guy who was seriously injured on his bike. Didn't stop him though, he just became 'more cautious.' Huh? That logic dosen't compute. I just don't understand taking such unnessasary risks.

[Grebdron]

I feel for you jackson. Good luck. I, too, have dealt with severe pain, and still do. And, I have kicked the habit incurred during the whole process. (9 months clean and sober, tomorrow). I have no ACL in my left knee, and have had four surgeries apiece on each knee. I continue to function and "play" with the use of a "bionic" knee brace. I can walk without it, but to do anything else, I must wear the brace. My knee freely rotates within the joint, and with only slight pressure can dislocate (you don't want to feel that.) I was a paratrooper for the Army and did much damage that way, then exacerbated it in a high speed collision with a wall on a motorcycle. I was commuting to work, not racing.

My point is this: I feel for Jason Priestly, and would wish that on nobody. But, as they say, "live by the sword...etc." He knew the danger involved in his pursuit, and probably would not want our pity. I hope he recovers fully, but I'm glad that he won't be a drain on society's resources. Fortunately, he can afford all the treatment he'll need. And also fortunately, because he can, he won't be taking the resources from some child who did not inflict their pain and suffering upon themselves.

Good luck, Jason, and Godspeed.

[This message has been edited by Grebdron (edited 08-12-2002).]