from Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch,
Blue Jackets forward Nathan Horton is stuck in a living hell and facing a torturous decision.
Horton, who hasn’t played since April, is in near constant pain — sometimes agony — because of a degenerative back injury that has derailed his NHL career.
“I can’t stand up like a normal person; I can’t bend over,” Horton said in his first public comments about his condition. “I can’t run. I can’t play with my kids. To get in and out of the car, I’m like a 75-year-old man … so slow and stiff. I can’t sleep at night. I try to lay down and my back seizes up and I can’t move, so sleeping is out. I’m like a zombie in the daytime.”
But the alternative to dealing with such misery is just as awful. Horton could have surgery to relieve the pain, but the procedure — likely a three- or four-level spinal fusion with a titanium rod — would mean the end of his NHL career at only 29 years old.
“I don’t want to have surgery, because of what that means,” Horton said, his voice breaking behind a smile. “I don’t want to live with this pain, but I don’t want to make that decision. It’s hard for me to say that, at 29 years old, I’m done. I mean, really? Done at 29?”
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